Harry Potter, A New Prophecy
by Lani Elliott
Summary: Hogwarts is back, and this time with a whole new set of students. Welcome to the stage the children of Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione Weasley, and even George! Watch their children find love, heartache, and new battles to fight. I changed the Title.
1. Chapter 1

The Next Generation Fanfic

By Helen Elliott and K.

**HELLO TO ALL YOU PEOPLE READING THIS STORY. SO MY FRIEND AND I WERE SPENDING THE NIGHT AT HER HOUSE THIS SUMMER AND WE DECIDED TO WRITE A STORY BASED ON WHAT WE THINK SHOULD HAPPEN TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF HARRY POTTER. THIS IS WHAT WE CAME UP WITH. ENJOY!**

**DISCLAIMER: NEITHER I NOR K. (MY FRIEND) OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. THOSE BELONG PURELY TO J.K. ROWLING WHO IS MY HERO. HOWEVER WE DO LOVE HARRY POTTER AND WE DO OWN THE PLOT TO THIS FANFICTION AS WELL AS THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. **

**_Okay, Hi! It's me! This is my second note, added with the second version of this chapter. For any of you who have read the original version, you might notice a few minor changes, namely, the scene in the Astronomy Tower. I got several reviews telling me that it was too extreme, and quite frankly, I agree. It was way too dramatic and didn't really fit with my idea of Brynne. Anyway, due to unfortunate circumstances, I am now writing this story on my own, and though I realize I haven't updated it in a while, I promise I'm going to try my hardest to get out updates within a reasonable time period. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. You guys and your amazing reviews are the reason I want to continue with this story. Enjoy! _  
**

**Chapter One**

**Slytherins, Food Fights, and Detentions**

The Hogwarts Express steamed steadily toward its destination as six teenagers piled into a compartment.

"Where's Hugo and Lily?" asked a girl with maroon hair that was currently changing to a dark purple as she looked around at her friends, searching for an answer.

"They went off with some of their friends," answered Albus Potter as he flopped down in one of the seats.

"Yeah, some of their fellow third years were talking about trying to pull a prank on a couple of Slytherins," explained Albus' older brother, James, as he lay down in his seat, placing his feet in one of his cousins' laps. A loud bang, followed by a puff of smoke came from outside of the compartment. James rolled his eyes.

"Amateurs," he muttered under his breath.

"Get off of me you great lump!" protested James's cousin Rose as she shoved his muddy shoes off of her skirt, wincing in disgust at the stains that his shoes left behind. "That was my favorite skirt you prat!" she yelled as James shrugged his apologies.

"Here Rose, let me get it," soothed the girl with the changing hair as she waved her wand over the skirt. The stains immediately disappeared.

"Thanks Brynne," Rose said as she sighed in relief.

"Hey Brynne, do you think I could see your potions homework? Just so that I can check my answers of course," asked another boy, who shared Rose's bright red hair and freckles. He was sitting next to a girl who would look identical to him if she didn't have her long hair pulled back in a braid. Brynne laughed cheerfully, her then orange hair turning a bright aquamarine.

"You mean so that you can copy me? I don't think so Fred," she answered in good humor. Fred pouted.

"But Professor Malfoy is going to kill me!" he whined. His twin slapped him upside the head.

"Shut up you oaf, if you were worried about that then you should have done it last night when I offered to help you with it," snapped his twin.

"Ouch Roxi, that hurt!" Fred growled. Roxi just sent him a glare. The others all laughed at Fred's injured expression. Their laughter was cut short as the compartment door opened, revealing two Slytherins.

"Oh look," cried James sardonically, "It's a couple of snakes." He shot them murderous looks, but they seemed determined to ignore him. Instead, a rather pretty girl with long brown hair looked over at Albus and smiled warmly.

"Want to go patrolling with us Al?" she offered. Albus opened his mouth to speak but was cut short by his brother.

"Why would he want to go patrolling with_ you_ when he has _us_?" spat James, eyeing the two Slytherins with the utmost disgust.

"Why wouldn't he?" demanded the girl, her voice turning hostile as she turned to the other Potter. "I'd rather hang out with the giant squid than be seen with an arrogant, good-for-nothing prat like you Potter."

"Vera..." began Albus in a warning tone, trying to silence the girl with a look.

"Even the giant squid is a step up from the son of a Death Eater!" the boy standing next to Vera now drew his wand, pointing it at James.

"Watch it, Potter," snarled the boy, his ice blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"Brave now, are we Malfoy?" taunted James, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was the one in danger of being hexed.

"Are you coming or not Al?" asked Vera, tugging on Malfoy's arm, trying to get him to lower his wand. Albus looked around nervously.

"Yeah I'm coming," he answered Vera, and then turned to exit the compartment before James did something really stupid.

"Come on Scorpius," he called, and Malfoy lowered his wand reluctantly and followed his friends out the door. Silence reigned in the compartment for a few moments before Brynne spoke up.

"Honestly James," she began in an exasperated voice, "was that _really_ necessary?" James looked at her in confusion.

"What'd I do?" he demanded, "If anything, Al's the one you should be yelling at! Going off with a bunch of Slytherins!" Brynne rolled her eyes. It was well known that James hated all Slytherins. She honestly didn't blame him, but they couldn't pick a fight every time they saw a Slytherin.

"You know, you _used_ to be friends with Vera," Fred cut in. Roxi nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, the two of you were almost inseparable before we got to Hogwarts," she agreed. James shot a glare at his favorite cousins.

"Yeah that was _before_ she turned traitor and decided to become a Slytherin," he explained as if this were the most obvious thing in the world, which, to him, it was. Rose scoffed.

"Please," she laughed, "It's not like she started declaring herself a Death Eater!"

"No she just started hanging out with one!" yelled James.

"Scorpius is _not _a Death Eater!" argued Rose, annoyed.

"No, just his whole family," snapped James, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course he is, Rose, you don't just decide to be the only one in your family who _isn't_ a Death Eater."

"Sirius Black wasn't a Death Eater," shot back Rose, "and as I recall, he was related to the Malfoys, _and_ the Lestranges." She gave him a triumphant look as James spluttered in protest.

"That's...well...erm...well I mean...that's different!"

"How?" demanded Rose. James was about to answer when Brynne, who was trying to read a book, decided that she'd had enough of this.

"Oh will you two shut it!" she cried, "Please, I'm begging you!" James and Rose fell silent, each looking sullenly in a different direction. Brynne went back to reading her book, and Fred and Roxanne began a game of exploding snap. They remained in silence for the rest of the train ride, with the exception of the occasional explosion from the twins' game.

Getting off the train, they immediately went to find a carriage. When they found one, they all climbed in. They were joined shortly by Albus, who greeted them all cheerfully. James chose to ignore his brother, glaring out the window in angry silence.

"What'd I do?" asked Al in confusion, looking to Brynne for an answer. Brynne just shook her head.

"Don't ask," she told him, glancing at James warily.

"You ditched us for a couple of Slytherins, that's what you did!" yelled James. Albus rolled his eyes.

"I did not 'ditch you for Slytherins' as you so quaintly put it," he defended himself, "I merely left our compartment to hang out with Vera and Scorpius."

"And they're Slytherins!" James shouted, as if this wasn't already obvious.

"No, _really,_ James? I hadn't noticed," quipped Albus sarcastically as everyone rolled their eyes.

"Well apparently you _haven't _noticed Al, because they _are _Slytherins and you _were _hanging out with them!" James pushed. Al threw up his hands in annoyance.

"Again with the whole Slytherin thing," he sighed loudly, "Really James? They're people!"

"They're not people!" protested James, "let's try this once again, they...are...SLYTHERINS! I don't think I'm getting through to you here!"

"Would you quit it with the Slytherin thing already?" yelled the others, who were all quite sick of this argument.

"But they are-"

"If you finish that sentence, I swear on Merlin's beard that I will hex you until you can't see straight," threatened Brynne. James did not finish the sentence. They were silent for the rest of the carriage ride, much to the others' relief.

The Hogwarts Castle was just as beautiful as ever. None of them said anything as they reentered the school. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Students around them babbled excitedly, but the Weasley cousins and Brynne were all silent.

The students all sat at their respective tables, and waited for the sorting ceremony to begin. When it did they all cheered to welcome the newest members of the Gryffindor house while listening with impatience as James booed the new Slytherins; he was joined only by his younger sister, Lily.

After the sorting ceremony was finished, Professor McGonagall, the school's headmistress, stood to give her annual start of year speech. As none of the student's paid much attention to the speech, with the exception of Brynne, who always paid attention, I won't go into details of the speech except to say that it was very long and inspirational...sort of.

So instead I shall skip straight to the feast, which is the more interesting of the two. It started without event. The six Gryffindors sat at their table, while the two Slytherins sat at theirs. Trouble began when Vera tried to talk to Albus.

"So Al, what classes are you taking this year?" asked Vera, turning to face her friend. Albus turned to answer her, but was interrupted by James.

"None of your business Longbottom," snapped James.

"I don't believe she was talking to you Potter," spat Scorpius.

"And I don't believe I asked your opinion, Malfoy," growled James, shaking with fury. Albus smacked him upside the head, bringing him to his senses.

"Stop it James, they're my friends," warned Albus. The look he gave James was so severe that James shut up, giving them one last glare before turning away. All would have been well, had Vera not stood to grab some pumpkin juice and accidentally knocked the mashed potatoes over, spilling them down the back of James' robes. Everyone stood silent, watching nervously as James, who was known for his Weasley temper, slowly turned red.

"You're going to pay for that Longbottom," he spat, before pouring gravy down Vera's shirt. Vera shrieked in rage and grabbed a plate of butter and threw it at James, who ducked, so that it landed in Brynne's now violet hair. The hair quickly turned a bright tomato red as Brynne rose in fury.

"I _know _you did not just do what I think you did _Longbottom_," she hissed, reaching for a bowl of split-pea soup. "Because then I would be forced to do this," and she tossed the bowl of hot soup at Vera, who dodged it and laughed as it hit Roxanne in the face. At this point, the small argument had evolved into a full out food fight between the six Gryffindors and the two Slytherins. It was joined shortly by the rest of the school, ending only after a series of loud bangs that echoed from the headmistress' wand.

"ENOUGH!" screamed Professor McGonagall. The entire school fell silent. Professor McGonagall was well known for being very strict, and right now no one could remember ever seeing her lips that thin. Rose also noticed her parents, who were teachers at the school, glaring at her and her friends; she knew she was going to get an earful later on. Vera shrunk under the furious gaze of her father, who was the herbology teacher, and Scorpius looked wary at the look of fury on his mother's face. Professor McGonagall pointed at the group and hissed, unable to form a full sentence in her fury.

"You...my office...NOW!" she managed. She then dismissed the rest of the students and stormed out of the Great Hall, followed by the furious parents of Rose, Vera, and Scorpius. The eight students in trouble walked in the direction of the headmistress' office with their heads down. They walked the walk of those condemned to die, certain that what awaited them was a fate far worse than death.

The students were silent as they gathered around McGonagall's desk. None of them dared to look into the faces of their furious teachers. It was especially bad for those whose families worked there. Brynne was really the only one who wasn't looking at a relative, and even she was too afraid to look at her teachers. This was her first time in trouble. She had a fairly strict policy of following the rules, or, on the rare occasions that she decided to cut loose, not getting caught. Professor McGonagall was the first to speak.

"I am completely speechless," she began in a furious hiss that suggested otherwise. "Never, in all my years teaching, have I ever seen such blatant disregard for the rules. Even your grandfather, Potter, never dared to start a food fight. This is something I've never seen happen. Not even when the twins were here!" She glared at Fred and Roxanne, as if impressing upon them how misbehaved their father and his dead twin, the Fred that Fred was named after, really were. The twins grinned proudly at their heritage. Those grins quickly disappeared when they caught the look on McGonagall's face.

"I am astounded that this is coming from you. Especially since five of you are prefects! Not to mention the fact that most of you are related to at least one of the staff members here at Hogwarts." They all shrunk back at this. "Now I will leave it to your heads of houses to think of a suitable punishment. But I must inform you that I will be sending home letters of conduct to all of your families that do not work here." And with that she turned the children over to the wolves, aka, their parents.

Professor Astoria Malfoy was the head of Slytherin, and was the first to move. She looked directly at Malfoy and Vera, shooting daggers at her son.

"You two will be serving detention every Saturday for the next month," she said finally, "and twenty points will be taken from Slytherin. Each." The two children opened their mouths to protest but were silenced with a glare. Professor Hermione Weasley, head of Gryffindor nodded in approval.

"I think that is a more than fair punishment Astoria," she said approvingly before glaring at those that were in her house. "I think that my house should follow that example. You will serve a month of Saturday detentions as well. And twenty points from Gryffindor. From each of you." They all groaned. They had a lot more people in trouble than Slytherin. That meant that they had just lost 120 points, rather than the forty points that Slytherin had lost. They were dismissed, and the prefects of the group went off to find first years and lead them to the common rooms.

Brynne, Albus, and James were all prefects. Everyone understood how Albus and Brynne had gotten the positions, but it was still a mystery as to how James had managed. They were leading a group of first years to the Gryffindor common room and arguing quietly.

"This is all your fault James," growled Brynne. She did not take kindly to having her first detention. She had worked hard to get the reputation she had for never getting in trouble and that was all out the window now. She would forever be known as the girl who had helped to create the first food fight Hogwarts had seen in over a century. She was so upset by this that she couldn't metamorphosis correctly. Her hair was shifting colors faster than one could blink, and every once in a while the boys would catch a glimpse of her true appearance, a rare occurrence.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" James demanded in protest. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"Oh please!" she cried in anger, "Are you honestly going to ask me that?" Albus felt just a little frightened for his brother. He knew that Brynne didn't get that angry often, but he also knew that whenever she did get this angry, it was best to find shelter quickly. Things tended to explode whenever Brynne lost her temper. James had apparently not learned this lesson, even after five years of friendship with her.

"You're the one who couldn't keep his mouth shut!" she screamed in fury. "If you had just ignored them then your temper wouldn't have gotten us in trouble!"

"She dumped potatoes down my shirt!" protested James, "What was I supposed to do?"

"It was an accident!" screeched Brynne. Albus wondered that her voice was capable of reaching that pitch. If it got any higher, glass might break.

"That's what they want you to think!" shouted James, his face turning red from screaming.

"Oh honestly!" shouted Brynne in impatience, "How thick can you get? Just because you're determined to hate Slytherins, James, doesn't mean that every one of them is out to get you!" screamed Brynne in anger. Albus mumbled the password to the Fat Lady, who let them in without a word, though her eyebrows were raised in skepticism.

"You hate Slytherins as much as I do!" James pointed out. Brynne shook her head, laughing coldly.

"No you git! I only hate the stupid, arrogant, blood obsessed, Death Eater wannabees. Oh and Longbottom, too. But even I'll admit that not all of them are bad. You're just such a stubborn, arrogant, toe-rag that you refuse to see it! Well you know what James? I'm sick of it! Grow up! And get a brain while you're at it!" she ranted. They were now attracting the attention of the entire common room.

"I have a brain!" shouted James, "Just because I'm not a self-obsessed know-it-all who spends all her time in the library because she doesn't have a life, doesn't mean I don't use it! So get off your high horse Wood and come join the rest of us down here on the ground!" Brynne looked as if she'd been smacked. Her eyes turned a dark, stormy gray, and seemed to fill with tears that she held back.

"Not good," muttered Albus in a voice that no one else heard. Brynne's eyes turned hard and she glared at James with a look of pure hatred.

"I'm done with you _Potter_," she hissed, before turning and running up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. James stared after her with a look of utter shock on his face. As if he couldn't believe what he'd just done. Rose, who had reached the common room in time for that last bit glared at her cousin.

"Brilliant James," she snapped, "Just bloody brilliant!" and with that she rushed up the stairs after her friend, without giving James a second glance. James turned to Fred and Roxi, who were standing behind him, looking for help.

"Not smart mate," said Fred simply, shaking his head before he and Roxi went off into a corner to discuss their next great prank. James collapsed into an armchair by the fire, staring blankly into to the flames. Albus came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, forcing a smile on his face as he did.

"Don't worry about it mate, she'll come around," he said, attempting to comfort his brother, "she always does." James just shook his head.

"She called me Potter," he whispered in shock, "she's _never_ called me Potter before." Albus was silent. He had no answer to this. Instead he went up to his dorm and prepared for bed, thinking that, detention or no, this had been by far one of the most interesting first days back he'd ever had.

While Brynne and James were having their fight, Vera and Scorpius were leading the first year Slytherins to their common room. They did this without too much talk. But once in their common room they both collapsed onto the couch. The Slytherin common room had changed a lot since that day in Harry Potter's second year when he and his friend Ron disguised themselves as Slytherins using polyjuice potion. Although it was still under the lake and it still glowed with an eerie greenish light, the skulls and chains were gone. They were replaced with green and silver hangings and bookshelves stuffed full with books on the war. No longer were the faces of the Slytherins harsh and cruel. Instead they were like any other face. Some were warm and open, others were haughty and proud. The only traces of the old Slytherin feel was in a small corner filled with a bunch of mean looking older kids that almost everyone else ignored. Vera and Scorpius both let out a sigh of relief as they relaxed into the furniture.

"I thought we were done for," admitted Vera after a moment of silence, "I mean, did you _see _McGonagall's face? She looked like she was ready to eat us!" They both laughed.

"I think my mum planned for Professor Weasley to use her punishment on the Gryffindors," Scorpius admitted. "Didn't you notice that they lost a lot more points than us?" Vera snorted.

"I love your mum," she told him laughing, "But it serves those prats right. I mean, they _did_ start it. And the look on Potter's face when he realized they'd just lost 120 points was priceless." They both laughed as they imitated his face. They compared schedules for a bit before both decided that it was time that they both went to sleep. As Vera pointed out, O.W.L.s were this year, and she wouldn't put it past Scorpius' mum to give them an essay, even if it was their first day back.

The first day of classes was by far the most awkward event Hogwarts had seen in many a year. Neither Brynne nor James was speaking to the other and their friends were forced to tiptoe around them all day. Rose had decided that James was entirely at fault for her best friend's foul mood and kept shooting him dirty looks from across the room, and refusing to acknowledge his existence, leaving Albus and the twins to struggle to bridge the gap between their friends. Albus was not speaking to his Slytherin friends at the moment, deeming it a good idea not to push too many of James' buttons. A wise decision on his part as none of them needed anymore detentions. The day was made worse by the fact that the rest of the Gryffindors were refusing to speak to the six friends, because it was their fault that they were in the negatives on the first day.

The teachers made their day no easier, giving all of their students extra homework for the day. Everyone had reached the conclusion that they were being punished for the food fight by being given an unusual amount of homework on the first day. The only thing that seemed to brighten their day was the fact that, due to James and Brynne being in different years, they didn't run into each other for almost the entire day. In fact, aside from mealtimes, they did not cross each other for the entire week. It was only when Saturday came along when the two friends were forced to cross paths.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early. The Gryffindors had all slept in late, but Vera and Scorpius were already down at the Great Hall, eating breakfast cheerfully. Or they were until they received two slips of paper. They both opened theirs to see the neat handwriting of Professor Weasley.

_Your detentions will take place this evening at six o' clock. Please be so kind as to report to my office at that time._

_Professor Hermione Weasley_

Deputy Headmistress.

The two students rolled up the pieces of parchment and looked up glumly. All traces of cheerfulness were gone.

"I'd completely forgotten about our detentions," admitted Vera. Scorpius grunted to show that he'd done the same.

"We have Quidditch try-outs tonight," he said, looking as if Christmas had just been canceled. "I'm captain, what am I supposed to do?"

Vera shrugged. She was on the team, too, but unlike most of her teammates, it wasn't her entire life. They finished their breakfast in silence before heading over to the library to get some of their homework out of the way.

The Gryffindors all received notes like the ones Vera and Scorpius had received, but they weren't too upset. Except for Brynne, all of them had experienced their fair share of detentions. They were more excited about Quidditch try-outs that were to take place after lunch. James, the captain, was making a list of the players they would need that year. They already had two beaters. Roxi and Fred had both inherited their father's brilliant beater skills. They were the best Gryffindor had seen in many years. James himself played chaser, and Rose was keeper for the team. But they were short two chasers and a seeker. Rose had convinced Brynne, whose own parents were famous Quidditch players, to try out this year, and Brynne found herself mildly excited.

Brynne spent the entire morning in the library, not even bothering with breakfast. She hardly ever ate anything in the mornings, always claiming that she had more important things to do. Eventually, after she had finished her charms essay and her star chart for Astronomy, Brynne decided to finish the rest of her work later on, before detention. She headed down to the Great Hall, eager for lunch, her favorite meal of the day.

When it was time for try-outs, Brynne grabbed her Firebolt 260, the fastest broom ever invented, and headed out to the pitch. There were a lot of people lined up for the three positions open this year. Most of them were trying out for the position of Chaser. Brynne noticed that quite a few of the people there were giggling teenage girls. She rolled her eyes. It was well known that James Potter was the most popular guy in school not only because of his famous family, but also his charm and good looks. Even Brynne would admit that he was not half bad in the looks department. Unfortunately, James was all too aware of this and often let it go to his head.

It was nearing the end of try-outs, and all that remained was to pick a new seeker. They had two new chasers, a sixth year named Collin Creevey, whose mother was a famous chaser on the Hollyhead Harpies, and James' younger sister, Lily, who was in third year. Brynne looked around and saw that, apart from two other kids, she was one of the only people trying-out for seeker. This made her slightly less nervous.

"Okay," began James, looking around at all of them, "The first person to catch the snitch is our new seeker." Brynne felt a thrill of adrenaline as she kicked off from the ground and shot into the air. It was already getting dark outside, and she knew that it would be hard to see the snitch in this light. But she also knew that she had some of the best eyesight at Hogwarts. She could do this. Brynne circled the Quidditch Pitch, searching for the tell-tale glimmer of gold that announced the arrival of the snitch. She soon saw it, darting around just behind James. She immediately sped toward him. She passed him with little more than a hair of space between them. She couldn't help but smile at the look of surprise on his face as she sped after the snitch. By now the others would've noticed that she'd seen it. They'd be on her tail in a heartbeat.

She followed the snitch up and down the pitch, dodging bludgers sent her way by the twins. She let the snitch lead her in a nose dive and even when all the others pulled up, trying to avoid a broken neck that would result from a collision with the ground going 160 mph, she continued down, pulling up last minute with the tiny golden ball clasped firmly in her hand. Adrenaline still pulsed through her veins and she couldn't help the loud whoop that escaped from her mouth as she landed at a run. She was met by an overjoyed Rose who picked her up and spun her around in a circle, laughing. She received a clap on the back from both of the twins, who were smiling brightly, going on about her 'bloody brilliant catch' as they called it. Even Lily and Collin, who she didn't really hang out with much, gave her a congratulatory hug. The only one who stayed back was James. Brynne looked over to see where he was and felt the smile immediately disappear from her face. James was standing far off, and his face was cold and remote. She had seen that look on his face only once before, and it had been the day that Vera had been sorted into Slytherin. That had been in her first year. The look confused her, but she knew that it never boded well. The only question now was what had she done? She didn't get an answer.

Rose and Brynne hurried to the kitchens to grab a last minute snack before heading off to detention. They were greeted by the hundreds of house-elves that worked in the kitchen. It was Rose who insisted on two pitchers of butterbeer rather than the usual pumpkin juice. It was also Rose who insisted on two slices of chocolate cake to celebrate Brynne's success.

"It's not every day your best friend makes it onto the Quidditch team," Rose said firmly when Brynne protested the amount of sugar they were having. They finished their cake and headed to Rose's mother's office. Rose was fixing her hair nervously and Brynne quickly changed her hair to a natural dark brown. Professor Weasley was the only one, aside from Professor McGonagall, that could ever get Brynne to take on a semi-natural color against her will. They entered to find that the others were already there, including the Slytherins.

"Rose, Ms. Wood, so glad that you could join us," said Professor Weasley sharply. She was very displeased with the amount of detentions she had been forced to give her daughter over the years. It didn't help that her favorite student was also receiving a detention this time. She stood up with a sigh. Looking around at the eight of them, she saw herself when she was young. She saw the twins and Harry. She saw Ron, and she even saw a glimpse of Neville and Luna. It was weird to feel so old.

The eight students stood nervously, awaiting the final sentence. What would their punishment be? Would they be forced to do it together?

"Tonight you will be working in pairs," announced Hermione. "Rose, you and Mr. Malfoy will be working in the trophy room; it's in bad need of dusting. You will not use magic." Both of the students looked as if they'd just been told that they would be working with Voldemort himself. Their faces were whiter than death as they handed over their wands and were handed dust rags in exchange. They walked slowly to their destination, leaving the rest behind to await their fate nervously. Hermione turned to the rest of them.

"Ms. Weasley, Mr. Weasley," she said turning to the twins, "You will be polishing the handles on the broomsticks down at the Quidditch pitch," she told them. The delight at their good luck was evident on the twins' faces as they hurried off before their aunt could change her mind. Albus swallowed nervously, looking around at the options left. Either he would get his brother, and Brynne and Vera, who were sworn enemies, would be stuck together, or he would get either Brynne or Vera, and the other would be left with James, who was not on friendly terms with either of them. He could not see how this night would not end in death.

"Albus, you will be working with Ms. Longbottom tonight. You will be doing some filing for Professor Flitwick tonight. No magic allowed." she nodded, showing that they could leave. Albus glanced at Brynne and James nervously. The two were still refusing to look at each other or acknowledge the other's existence.

_This cannot end well_ thought Albus, but he did not voice his opinion, because he figured that the way they were paired up now had the highest chance for survival. So he walked out without saying a word, he was followed by Vera, who did not give the other two a second glance. That left Brynne and James, waiting to see what they would be doing. Hermione studied them for a moment before telling them their assignment.

"You two will be polishing the telescopes and various other instruments in the astronomy tower. Good luck. And with that she took their wands and handed them polishing rags, motioning for them to get going. The two left without a word and headed towards the Astronomy tower.

Brynne worked in silence for quite some time, speaking only to James when she needed him to pass her a rag, or some polishing potion. They said nothing about the Quidditch try-outs or the argument. Brynne could not imagine a more uncomfortable way to spend detention. And they were only fifteen minutes into it. Eventually she decided that she'd had enough of the silence. Gathering her courage, she opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You know, I've never really done the whole detention thing, but I'm pretty sure that it's easier if there's some conversation involved. Lighten the mood and all that rubbish." She waited to see how he would react to this. She expected him to laugh and make up. After all, she'd always been the one to hold grudges, James was famous for being able to forgive and forget in a day, unless he'd been really offended. And she knew that she hadn't gone that far in their argument. But instead he shot her a cold look and turned back to the telescope he was polishing. He didn't even bother to look up as he answered.

"Well I guess you'll have to find somebody else to talk to Wood, because I don't think I feel like talking to you right now." Brynne felt a twinge of annoyance at this. What had she done? It wasn't as if she'd called him anything he hadn't been called a hundred times before. He was the one who had insulted _her_.

"If I recall correctly, _you_ were the one that landed us in detention in the first place _and_ insinuated that I have no life." she reminded him, hoping he would realize that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"And as I recall," he spat, "_You_ were the one that said that you wanted nothing to do with me, and then proceeded to ignore me for an entire week." Brynne rolled her eyes.

"Yeah because you were being a git," she explained, "A stubborn one at that mind you." He snarled at her. She could tell that there was something more to this than the argument. After all, he had been trying to apologize to her all week. It wasn't until try-outs that he had completely ignored her existence.

"Well if I'm such a stubborn git then why don't you go talk to Al, or Rose, or better still, go talk with Scorpius and Vera, that way I don't have to hear a bunch of people begging me to apologize to you," he spat. She just glared at him. She wasn't so much hurt by his comments, as the fact that he was using hem to avoid telling her why he was mad at her. That was making her mad. She hated that.

"Why don't you cut the crap and tell me what the bloody hell is bugging you, because I'm sure that you still wanted to be my friend before the try-outs this afternoon. And that just makes no sense because I proved myself to be a brilliant seeker, and you get on well with just about anyone who can play." He glared at her. He looked at her as if she were missing something glaringly obvious. But she couldn't see what she was missing. He shook his head and went back to polishing the telescope. It was silent for a long while and Brynne was beginning to lose hope of ever getting an answer to her question. Finally James stood up and glared at her. She had a feeling that he was about to start screaming his head off at her, so she shifted so that she had a better view of his face, and moved her hand to her back pocket, cursing when she realized she didn't have her wand with her.

"You think that you're so clever and that you can get mad at someone whenever you want and then when you're tired of fighting they'll be willing to forget all about it and make up. Well not this time," he told her coldly. She rolled her eyes. He was giving her a fake reason. She knew it.

"Well maybe I just figured since we're supposed to be best mates and since _you _were the one to piss me off in the first place, maybe you'd like to bury the hatchet. Excuse me if I was mistaken," she remarked dryly. His dark hazel eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well I guess you were mistaken," he said and turned to leave. She followed him.

"What the bloody hell is your problem Potter?" she demanded. "I don't recall ever doing anything to you and if I did I'm sorry. But you can't just go getting pissed off at people for no good reason and not tell them why you're pissed off." He snarled and she felt a thrill of fear at the expression on his face.

"_You're _my problem!" he shouted. "Leave me the hell alone and we'll both be a lot happier. Did it ever occur to you that I'm sick of being mates with a stupid, goody-goody bookworm who never stops to look up from her book and think about other people's feelings? So just sod off Wood! I want nothing to do with you!" Brynne looked shocked. A sharp pain was tearing in her chest, and she thought she felt a piece of her tear off. She did the only thing she could think to do in this situation. She fought back.

"Well I guess that's good Potter," she said without emotion, "Because as far as I'm concerned, I'm better off as far away from an arrogant, stubborn, thick-headed, conceited brat like you. You make a rubbish mate anyway." And with that, she strode off to retrieve her wand from Professor Weasley so that she could find a quiet place to let out the sobs attempting to make their way out. James just stared after her before turning to head back to Gryffindor Tower.

Rose and Malfoy had both groaned in dismay when they caught sight of the trophy room. Peeves, the poltergeist, had apparently decided that it would be a good joke to throw mud and feathers all over the glass cases, writing on the walls and smearing every visible surface with something that looked a lot like raspberry juice. Filch, the insane caretaker was waiting for them, a gleeful smile on his face.

"I think you'll be needing a bit more than those dust rags," he told them helpfully. He handed them a bunch of cleaning supplies and told them to get to work. He then skipped down the hallway, singing about students in trouble. Rose and Scorpius were left in a cloud of filth, wondering how they would ever manage to clean the trophy room in less than two hours.

"So much for making it to try-outs," mumbled Scorpius glumly. "I guess Flint's just going to have to do them without me." he looked thoroughly depressed at this thought. He hated Flint, and the thought of having to listen to him go on about the captain not doing his job for the rest of the year was almost sickening.

"And I don't think I'm going to be able to finish that essay my mum assigned us for homework tonight," admitted Rose morosely. "This means I'll be stuck inside all day tomorrow studying." They both sighed and began to work. It was slow and dull, and soon they were both wishing fervently that they could be anywhere but here.

"I wonder how the others are getting on?" mused Rose after twenty minutes of silence. Scorpius chuckled at the thought.

"Probably a right sight better than we're doing that's for sure," he answered. Rose laughed.

"Don't be so sure," she said, "My mum can be downright cruel when it comes to giving detentions. I'll wager at least one of them got a worse detention than us." Scorpius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, and how much would you be prepared to bet on this Ms. Weasley?" he asked her playfully. She considered it for a minute or so.

"I bet ten galleons that one of the others will either get a partner they despise, end up fighting, or come back in tears before the end of the night," she said. Scorpius looked at her in surprise.

"Wow, you're mum must be really cruel," he told her. She laughed at this.

"Not intentionally, I assure you," she said cheerfully. "But she's horrible at picking partners. Almost all detentions assigned by her end with some sort of disaster. Last year Lily disappeared for a full two days after being assigned detention with Jason O'Donnell last year. They were told to water the plants in Greenhouse 3 and somehow Lily ended up trapped in the jaws of an invisible Venus Witchtrap. It took them two days to figure out where it was. Poor Lily's never been the same in herbology since then." Scorpius laughed.

"Are you serious?" he gasped when he finally stopped laughing. "Is your mum that bad at assigning detentions?" Rose nodded solemnly. The effect was ruined when she began to giggle uncontrollably.

"You know Weasley, you're not half bad," admitted Scorpius, studying her thoughtfully, "For all you're related to Potter."

"Thanks," said a stunned Rose, she hadn't expected that. She smiled. "My friends call me Rose by the way," she told him. "And you're not so bad yourself, for all you're a Malfoy." He was about to get angry when he realized that she was teasing him. He responded by throwing a great chunk of mud at her. She shrieked in indignation and they began a mud fight, which lasted a few more minutes before Rose pointed out that they were supposed to be cleaning the trophy room, not making a bigger mess. Then they busily resumed their cleaning, although this time they laughed and joked while working. By the end of the night, they had discovered that they were quickly becoming good friends.

Roxi and George were not doing their detentions. They had decided to forget cleaning broomsticks, and had instead taking up racing them around the Quidditch pitch. They discussed pranks and ways to solve the rift between James and Brynne.

"It's so obvious they like each other," Roxi said while munching on some cauldron cakes she had summoned from the kitchens (they, unlike the others, had not been forbidden to use magic). "I mean, they both act like they're just mates, but anyone who sees the way they look at each other when they think no one's watching can tell." she continued sagely. Fred nodded.

"Too right you are little sis," he agreed.

"OI!" yelled Roxi, "I'm only five minutes younger!" she greatly disliked being called little anything. Fred laughed and continued with their discussion, biting into an apple as he did so.

"The question is, how we get them to realize it?" he asked his sister. They both thought on this for awhile.

"I suppose it's up to us to make sure those two end up together, isn't it?" asked Roxi. Fred nodded.

"James is too thick-headed to ever admit he likes Brynne, and as smart as our dear friend is, she has no brains when it comes to boys," said Fred simply. "And Rose and Al won't figure out what's going on until James and Brynne are married." They both snorted at their clueless cousins' expense.

"So...I'll handle Brynne and you'll take care of James?" Roxi was itching to start on their plan.

"Unless you'd rather handle James..." offered Fred. He laughed at his twin's grimace.

"No thanks," declined Roxi, "Brynne's smart; she'll pick up on the plan faster. I pity you. James is just as clueless as Al and Rose." Fred smiled confidently.

"I like the challenge. Why don't we make this interesting," he suggested. Roxi looked up, intrigued.

"I'm listening," she told him.

"Ten galleons to the one who can get their person to admit their feelings first," Fred said. A slow smile spread across Roxi's face.

"You're on," she agreed, "Easy money." Fred grinned mischievously; it was a grin that nearly always boded ill.

"We shall see little sister, we shall see," and with that he was knocked over as Roxi tackled him, yelling for him to take it back.

Albus and Vera were having a great time during their detention. Professor Flitwick, their charms professor, was ancient, and good-natured. Not two minutes after they had arrived Professor Flitwick had told them to hang filing, they were young; they should be having fun. He had waved his wand and immediately a cluster of brightly colored bubbles appeared. He informed them that each one was matched with the personality of someone that they knew. It would give them clues until they guessed who it was. The one to guess with the least amount of hints won a point.

"I'm a colorful person," said a bright blue bubble. Albus jumped up and down in excitement.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know this!" he squealed, "It's Brynne!" The bubble popped to reveal the image of Brynne, whose hair was a bright aquamarine. Albus did a victory dance that caused Vera to laugh and Flitwick to clap his hands in glee.

A dark green bubble began to play a piece of classical music that Vera recognized. She laughed.

"That's _got _to be Scorpius," she announced, "No other teenager in their right mind would listen to something as ridiculous as _that_!" The bubble popped to reveal a scowling Scorpius. They were still laughing when Professor Flitwick glanced up at the clock.

"Good Godric is that the time?" squeaked Flitwick, "You'd best be off or Professor Weasley will be wondering where you went!" And hurriedly he shooed them out of his office. They walked slowly back to Professor Weasley's office, still laughing. Finally they slipped into silence. Albus thought quietly to himself and Vera seemed to be off in some other world.

"Hey V," began Al. Vera looked up in surprise at her old nick-name.

"No one's called me that in years," she told him, "Not since James and I stopped speaking." Albus looked embarrassed at the mention of his brother's attitude to their old friend.

"Well I was just wondering, I can see why you hate James, but I can't understand why you and Brynne can't get along. You guys were inseparable for the first two years of school." Vera stiffened at the mention of Brynne's name.

"It's complicated," she answered slowly. Albus blushed.

"I understand," he told her, although he really didn't. It was silent for a while before Vera spoke again.

"She didn't like how mean I was to James. She said that even though he was being a prat for treating me the way he did, he didn't deserve to be treated like scum." Albus didn't have to guess who she was. "I...said some things I shouldn't have and...well… you know how Brynne gets when she's mad. She doesn't think. She said some things back and we walked away. We haven't spoken since except to toss around some more insults. Neither one of us can forgive the other." Vera looked immensely sad at this fact, and Albus could imagine how it must be killing her to be enemies with someone who was as close to her as a sister. Vera and Brynne had grown up as neighbors. It had been impossible to talk about one without the other growing up. Their fight had to have been devastating to both of them. Albus still remembered walking in on Brynne once, tears streaming down her face as she looked at a picture of the two of them, waving up at her, smiling.

They didn't speak for the rest of the way there. When they arrived Hermione seemed annoyed.

"Here are your wands back you two," she said, handing them their wands. "And here's your brother's wand Albus. Ms. Wood came in here an hour ago saying they were finished but he still hasn't shown up to retrieve his wand." she looked worried. Albus could see she was remembering Lily's brief disappearance from last year.

"Thanks Aunt Hermione, I'll be sure to give it to him," promised Albus, trying to silently reassure her that James was all right, even though he himself was worried about his brother. What had happened during his detention with Brynne? Albus walked quickly toward Gryffindor Tower, he was planning on going to get the Marauder's Map out of the trunk in James' room to look for his brother. But as it turned out, he didn't have to.

James was sitting on a couch in the empty common room when Albus stepped through the portrait hall. He felt a surge of relief and then annoyance as he realized his brother was okay.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" demanded Albus angrily, "Do you realize that Aunt Hermione was worried sick about you when an hour after Brynne came in to tell her you had finished your detention you still hadn't come back to get your wand? Why would you do that to her? Especially after what happened with Lily last year?" James looked up at him, a bored expression painted carefully on his face. The look in his eyes scared Albus. He looked like someone had just died.

"Sorry," mumbled James, grabbing his wand out of his brother's hand. "Forgot." Albus looked at him with fear.

"Forgot? James how did you...I mean what happened to you? You look like someone died," stumbled Albus. A grim smile played across James' face.

"Nothing happened, Al. I'm fine," Albus was about to argue. He wanted to tell James that no, he was not fine and to cut the crap and tell him what was wrong. But James didn't give him the chance. Before Albus could so much as open his mouth James was off the couch and headed toward the dormitory he shared with the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor boys. The door shut, and Albus could've sworn he heard the lock click into place as he sat numbly on the couch, waiting for the others to get back.

Fred and Roxi came in through the portrait hole laughing with Rose as they retold tales from detention. Their laughter slipped away as they caught a glimpse of the brooding look on Albus' face.

"Okay who died?" joked Roxi, trying to get a laugh from her cousin. Albus shrugged.

"Don't know," he admitted, "James won't tell me a thing. For all I know he and Brynne murdered someone by pushing them off the Astronomy Tower." They all exchanged anxious looks. Rose was the first one to say something.

"Okay Al, tell us exactly what happened," she said, taking a seat in an armchair across from her cousin. Al shrugged.

"Vera and I came back from our detention to get our wands and your mom told me that Brynne had come in about an hour ago to get her wand and tell her that she and James were finished with their detention, but that James had never showed to collect his wand. I came in to get the Map so that I could find him and he was there, just sitting on the couch. I confronted him about worrying your mom and he looked at me like he was completely bored, only his eyes looked like someone had died, and he said he'd forgot. When I asked him what was wrong he just smiled like he'd heard something funny and shrugged and told me nothing. But I could tell he was lying. He looked torn up. Then he turned around and disappeared into his room. He hasn't come back out and I haven't seen heads or tails of Brynne." They all looked at each other.

"I'll go talk to him," volunteered Fred, "I'll see what I can dig up." Albus shook his head.

"It's no use," he told Fred, "he locked the door." Fred smiled.

"You're forgetting who you're talking to coz," was all he said before squaring his shoulders in determination and walking over to the door. He knocked on it politely.

"Oi! James! You think you could let me in? I want to borrow the map for a prank Roxi and I are planning!" There was silence for a moment before they heard the turning of the lock and the door opened.

"Be quick," was all they heard as Fred strode in.

"Not likely coz," answered Fred, shutting the door behind them. The others exchanged awed looks.

"He's bloody brilliant," declared Albus, "I've been trying to get him to open up for the past half-hour!" They all nodded before Rose stood up.

"I'm going to go check on Brynne. I bet she's holed herself in our room, hoping for privacy. She's not likely to get it," she announced as Albus looked at her in confusion. Roxi stood up as well.

"I'll come with you," she said grimly, "It'll take the both of us to convince her to talk anyway." Rose nodded in agreement and they headed up. A few moments passes before they came down again. Rose looked worried and Roxi looked furious.

"What's wrong?" demanded Albus. Rose looked at him, fear clear in her eyes.

"Brynne's gone. She's not up there." Albus felt cold all over. It was well after curfew, and Brynne never ventured out after hours except in emergencies. She wouldn't be caught dead breaking curfew mere hours after her first detention. This was bad.

"I'm going to kill that idiot," snarled Roxi, storming over to the door to Fred and James' room. Albus couldn't remember ever seeing his cousin this mad. He couldn't recall ever seeing her mad period. "I'm sure he's got something to do with this. And I'm going to find out what," and with that Roxi began to bang on the door.

Fred looked around his dorm, searching for hints as to what was bothering his cousin and best friend. James was fuming silently, angry at having been tricked. Fred chose to ignore this fact.

"So how'd detention go?" he asked casually, collapsing onto his bed and grinning up at James.

"Sod off," was the answer he got. Fred shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Come now, don't be like that Jamie," he scolded, laughing silently. James glared at the use of his old nickname.

"I told you Fred, sod _off_," he repeated. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Look mate, we can do this the easy way, and you can tell me straight out what happened or you can be difficult and force me to bug you for days about it until I'm forced to resort to slipping veritaserum in your pumpkin juice. Which is it gonna be? My vote's for the first choice personally." He looked at James waiting for an answer. Something in James' face seemed to harden as he watched.

"I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way because I'm sure as hell not telling you anything," answered James coldly. Fred sighed in annoyance.

"James..." he began, but he was interrupted by someone pounding on the door in anger.

"OPEN UP YOU PRAT BEFORE I'M FORCED TO BLAST THE DOOR OPEN WITH MY BLOODY WAND!" came the very loud and _very_ angry voice of his twin, Roxi. Fred looked at his cousin in amazement.

"Merlin, what did you _do?" _he asked in amazement. "I've been trying for _years _to get her that angry, and you do it without even breaking a sweat!" James shrugged, his face blank, but Fred thought he detected a hint of fear in his cousin's eyes. He couldn't blame him. Roxi could be _very _scary when she wanted to be. Fred got up to answer the door before Roxi carried out her threat.

Roxanne Weasley's face was, for once, redder than her hair. Fred was reminded vaguely of his cousins, Victoire and Dominique, who were part veela, when they got mad. It truly was a scary sight.

Roxi stormed passes her stunned twin and shoved James roughly. Unprepared for the sudden force, James fell back onto his bed. Roxi pointed a finger at him and gave him a look that would've made Voldemort wet his pants.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" she shrieked, "WHAT STUPID IDIOTIC THING DID YOU DO TO HER YOU BLOODY WANKER!" James looked confused.

"Sorry but...what?" he asked in confusion. Roxi growled. Albus and Rose, who had followed her in, exchanged nervous looks.

"YOU KNOW BLOODY WELL WHAT YOU DID! NOW WHERE IS SHE AND WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER?" shouted Roxi. Fred had honestly _never _seen her so mad in his entire life. He could catch a hint of desperation in her voice that scared him.

"Where's who? Would somebody please tell me why the hell you're screaming your head off at me?" demanded James defensively.

"It's Brynne," explained Rose, she sounded like she'd been crying, "She's missing." James's face went from red to white in less than two seconds. Fred was now seriously worried.

"W-what?" asked James, as if not sure he'd heard right.

"SHE'S MISSING JAMES! SHE NEVER CAME BACK FROM BLOODY DETENTION. NOW YOU BETTER TELL ME WHAT YOU DID AND WHERE SHE COULD BE OR SO HELP ME YOU'RE GOING TO FIND THAT I DO A MUCH BETTER BAT-BOGEY HEX THAN AUNT GINNY!" shouted Roxi, pointing her wand at James' chest. But James wasn't paying attention. He was busy rummaging through his trunk, looking for something. He pulled out a torn and crumpled piece of parchment and tapped it with his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered. Then he turned to look up at Roxi, shooting her an angry glare. "I didn't do anything by the way."

"OH LIKE HELL YOU DIDN'T!" shouted Roxi. She snatched the map and looked down at it, searching frantically for their friend. She looked up, her face white.

"She's in the Astronomy Tower," she whispered. She sounded scared.

"That's great!" said Albus, "So why do you look like you just walked through a ghost?" Roxi glared at James before turning to Albus.

"Because dork, the Astronomy Tower is the highest point at Hogwarts; there's a reason that students aren't even allowed to go up there during the day. About fifty years ago a girl went up there, and was found beneath it the next morning. Dead. It's the perfect spot for suicide." The room went cold. James was the first to react. He jumped from the bed, looking like he'd just been told he had one day to live.

"I have to stop her," he said. Roxi stopped him before he could get any farther.

"No," she said, "I'll go." James opened his mouth to argue. But she interrupted him.

"Don't you think you've done enough?" she asked coldly. James' face went blank at this. He nodded stiffly and watched as Rose, Albus, and Roxi ran out, heading straight for the Astronomy Tower.

"Dammit James what did you _do?" _demanded Fred, turning to look at James. James just shook his head.

"All my fault," he muttered. Fred shook him.

"Mate, you have to tell me what happened," he said calmly. James shook his head again.

"I can't," he said.

"JAMES SHE COULD _DIE_!" shouted Fred in frustration, "DO YOU REALIZE THAT?" James nodded. He seemed to deflate.

"I just couldn't do it. I couldn't be around her anymore. It scared the living shit out of me and I couldn't deal with that," he mumbled. "So I told her I wanted nothing to do with her. I thought it would be easier if I pretended I hated her. I never dreamed she'd react like this. When I told her she just looked at me, like she was seeing me for the first time. She said that was fine with her, she was sick of me anyway. I thought I was gonna die right there it hurt so much. Then she walked away without another word and I just wanted to call her back, but I didn't." Fred looked at his cousin in dismay.

"_Why?_" he asked, "Why the bloody hell would you do something like that James?" James looked at him in desperation.

"I was scared okay? I thought she'd be fine with it. She hated me anyway. I didn't think she'd do _this!_ I mean why in Merlin's name would she react like this?" Fred groaned.

"James, you're her best mate! You mean more to her than you know! It would kill her to loose you! Don't you know that?" James shook his head. Fred looked at him in confusion. "Wait, why were you scared of Brynne?" he asked. It was James' turn to groan.

"It was that ruddy stunt she pulled at try-outs today. The nose dive. I don't know why it upset me so much. If it had been you or Roxi or Rose I would've been cheering you on. But with her all I could think is, 'Merlin, what if she doesn't pull up in time?' I couldn't watch that but _I couldn't look away._ It scared the hell out of me. I just can't deal with that. I thought if I ended the friendship I wouldn't care as much. But it hurts just as much now knowing that they could be too late to stop her as it did this afternoon, thinking she might not pull up in time." Fred was grinning from ear to ear by this time.

"You love her," he said simply. James looked up at him in alarm.

"Of course not! She's my best mate!" he protested.

"And? Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron were best mates in school and look how they ended up."

"I can't love her!"

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't love me!"

"How do you know? She's about to throw herself off the bloody Astronomy Tower because you told her you wanted nothing to do with her. Seems like love to me."

"How does that fit in with your definition of love?"

"Stupid...irrational...slightly crazy? Yep that's definitely love."

"Fine, I love her."

"Excellent."

"Er...how's this excellent? The girl I love is about to kill herself because of something I said to her."

"Roxi owes me ten galleons. And I suggest you do something about that by the way." James stood up and grabbed his broom.

"Er...what are you doing?" asked a confused Fred. "I meant stop her not go play Quidditch!" James rolled his eyes.

"It'll take too long for me to get there by foot. She'll be dead by then." He mounted the broom and flew out the window, pausing to look back at his cousin.

"And by the way, we'll discuss you and Roxi betting on my love life when I get back." With that he disappeared in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Fred leaned out the window to shout at his retreating back.

"Technically we weren't just betting on your love life, we were betting on Brynne's love life, too!" But either James didn't hear this, or he chose to ignore it. Fred sat there grinning stupidly before realizing that he was about to miss everything. Fred swore colorfully and rushed out the door, on his way to the Astronomy Tower.

Brynne had spent the last few hours crying silently in the Astronomy Tower. She didn't understand why her heart felt like it was being shredded, but she knew that for whatever reason, losing James hurt worse than anything else that she'd ever experienced. That included losing Vera, and that had hurt pretty bad. All Brynne could think about was what life would be like without James. It was almost unbearable to consider. She choked back yet another sob. She was done crying. Brynne stood up from the cold stone ground and walked to the balcony. The cool air felt good on her overheated skin. It dried her tears. Brynne wondered what it would be like to fly, not with a broom, but by herself, like a bird. She imagined the feeling would be amazing.

Brynne opened her eyes and looked out at the Hogwarts grounds. She could see almost everything from this vantage point. It was exhilarating. She felt so close to the heavens, and yet terribly far away from everything dear. Brynne stood on the edge of the balcony, simply being. She enjoyed the feeling of standing at the edge. It was dangerous, and yet safe at the same time. She knew that she would never consider jumping. She wasn't that kind of person, and she knew that if she fell, she had magic on her side.

A voice seemed to float in her direction. It sounded like James. Brynne wondered if she was hallucinating. It seemed possible. The voice sounded upset, scared. It was calling someone's name, but Brynne couldn't really make out whose name was being called. She closed her eyes and continued to enjoy the feeling of standing on the edge. She would get down soon, and then she would go back to her dorm, pretend like nothing was wrong, and act like James hadn't hurt her beyond repair. But first, she was going to enjoy the solitude that came with the night sky. She heard the voice again. It was closer. It definitely sounded like James.

"Brynne stop!" came the voice again. Stop what? Brynne was confused. She moved to get down when the voice came again.

"BRYNNE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And something crashed into her, pushing her back onto the tower, away from the edge. She hit her head against the stone floor and groaned in pain. Strong arms were wrapped around her, and she heard someone sobbing above her. She opened her eyes to see the blurry image of James; his face was streaked with tears as he looked down at her.

"Brynne what the hell did you think you were doing?" rasped James, hugging her to his chest. Brynne was slowly recovering from the blow to the head, but she didn't understand what was going on.

"James?" she asked, confused. James just held her closer. Then he was shaking her.

"What the hell were you thinking Brynne? Do you know what would happen if you died? Do you even understand what that would put them through? What it would put _me_ through?" yelled James, furiously.

"James!" yelled Brynne, attempting to stop his rant and understand what the hell he was talking about.

"Why would you want to kill yourself anyway? Huh? It's not like you couldn't get on perfectly fine without me! You're not allowed to try and kill yourself over something I say!" James continued, frantic.

"JAMES!" screamed Brynne, finally getting his attention.

"WHAT?" he shouted back.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself," Brynne said calmly.

"Of course you were I mean you…wait…you weren't?" James asked, confused.

Brynne snorted in laughter.

"Of course not," she giggled, "How stupid do you think I am?" James blinked in surprise.

"Oh," he said simply. Brynne laughed again.

"Oh indeed," Brynne agreed in amusement.

"Then what were you doing?" asked James, confused. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"I was trying to collect myself before going back to the common room and pretending everything was fine," she explained, "Speaking of which, why the hell are you here? I thought you didn't want anything to do with me?" Brynne accused him angrily, shoving him away from her and sitting up. She refused to meet his eyes as she did so. She watched as he ran his fingers through his messy black hair in agitation.

"Merlin Brynne, I thought you were going to kill yourself because of what I did," he told her, "I couldn't let you do that." Brynne laughed coldly.

"Well I wasn't trying to kill myself," she told him, "so you can ease your guilty conscience and go back to ignoring me now." James's eyes snapped to hers, and he looked angry.

"You think I was trying to save you because I didn't want to feel _guilty_?" he asked her, furiously.

"Why else would you bother?" Brynne demanded, "You made it clear tonight that you don't give a damn about me!"

"Brynne what the hell are you talking about?" James practically snarled. "Of course I give a damn!" Brynne just shook her head and James couldn't help but think that she looked so beautiful in the moonlight. Like an angel.

"You don't," she insisted, "You said you wanted nothing to do with me. You wouldn't have said that if you cared about me." James cupped her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes.

"I care Brynne," he said firmly, "So much it scares me. That's why I said what I did. I thought that if I pretended I hated you then it wouldn't hurt so bad to watch you almost kill yourself in Quidditch like it did this afternoon. I thought that it wouldn't hurt so much to know that you didn't care about me the same way I cared about you. I didn't try to save you because I felt guilty; I tried to save you because I can't imagine my world without you." She looked into his bright hazel eyes and she realized he was telling the truth.

"You prat," she growled playfully, "You thought _I _didn't care? Are you crazy?" she smacked him upside the head and he laughed.

"Yeah well, I guess we both have some things to apologize for," he said. Her eyes widened.

"Okay I can see where _you _might have some things to apologize for, but I fail to see how I have done anything that merits an apology," she said. James rolled his eyes.

"Gee, let me think about that while I nurse a couple of scrapes I received while trying to save your arse because _someone _suddenly developed an affinity for heights," he muttered sarcastically.

"It's not like I was actually in any danger," Brynne said calmly. James growled. Brynne smiled and backed off.

"Okay," she admitted, "That probably wasn't the smartest move I've ever made, but to be fair, none of this would've happened if you hadn't freaked out and tried to end our friendship."

"Because you scared me silly by doing a nose dive that almost ended in your broken neck!" he protested. She thought about that for a moment before giving her reply.

"Yeah well...Rose was the one who convinced me to try out, so this is technically her fault." She shot him a triumphant smile as she finished her sentence.

"What's my fault again?" asked Rose from the stairway. Roxi and Albus appeared shortly behind her, panting.

"The fact that she tried out for the Quidditch team and did a nose dive that scared me enough to tell her I wanted nothing to do with her which upset her so much that she had to go and hang out around the edge of the Astronomy Tower, which forced me to attempt saving her, earning me a couple of rather nasty cuts and bruises in the process," explained James, smiling without pausing for breath. Brynne glared at hm.

"It sounded better in my head," she said defensively. They all looked at her like she was insane.

"Well it _did,"_ she mumbled, blushing.

"Okay well as long as we are on the subject, what exactly are you doing here?" demanded Roxi, glaring at James. He shrugged.

"I wasn't sure that you guys would make it on time so I thought I'd fly over here and lend a hand," James explained

"Flying! Why didn't _I _think of that?" muttered Rose mutinously. They all looked at her.

"This coming from the girl who ran faster than the wind up about twenty flights of stairs without breaking a sweat?" questioned Albus; he was still recovering from the journey. Rose's eyes widened innocently.

"What?" she demanded, "I broke the heels off my favorite shoes and _ruined _my pedicure!" They all looked at her weird.

"Uh…Rose? I don't _exactly_ know how to tell you this but...you're a witch...fix it." said James without sympathy. Rose shot him a glare.

"Ha, ha very funny," she said dryly. "The only good thing that came out of tonight, aside from the fact that you know, my best friend didn't kill herself, was that Scorpius and I are now friends. He owes me ten galleons now that I think about it. Yay! I'm rich!" she clapped her hands together in delight.

"I'm going to let that one slide out of sheer exhaustion and because I'm too happy about the whole 'my girlfriend didn't try to kill herself tonight' thing to start an argument about being friends with Slytherins, but tomorrow you had better be prepared for a lecture. Oh and by the way Roxi, Fred says you owe him ten galleons, something about betting on my love life." James said coolly.

"Dammit Fred!"

**WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT TO FIND OUT. WE'LL BE POSTING THE NEXT CHAPTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, BUT IT COULD TAKE AWHILE. I'M AT BOARDING SCHOOL WRITE NOW AND K. IS 300 MILES AWAY. SO WE COMMUNICATE PURELY THROUGH THE WONDEROUS INVENTION THAT IS EMAIL. OH AND FACEBOOK OF COURSE. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT. PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE REVIEW. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!**


	2. Chapter 2

Previous Chapter

_"Ha ha very funny," she said dryly. "The only good thing that came out of tonight, aside from the fact that you know, my best friend didn't kill herself, was that Scorpius and I are now friends. He owes me ten galleons now that I think about it. Yay! I'm rich!" she clapped her hands together in delight._

_ "I'm going to let that one slide out of sheer exhaustion and because I'm too happy about the whole 'my girlfriend didn't kill herself tonight' thing to start an argument about being friends with Slytherins, but tomorrow you had better be prepared for a lecture. Oh and by the way Roxi, Fred says you owe him ten galleons, something about betting on my love life." James said cooly._

_ "Dammit Fred!"_

**hey! I'm back. sorry it took so long. who knew boarding school could be so stressful? Thank you for the two people who reviewed. It meant a lot to me and K. So here's the next chapter and...enjoy!**

**P.S. I am in no way shape or form J.k Rowling, neither unfortunately, is K. So what we've done here is just the best that we can.  
**

"What'd I do?" demanded a winded Fred as he appeared behind the five friends. They all turned to look at him, or in Roxi's case, glare.

"I think it has something to do with Roxi now owing you ten galleons," stated James sagely. "Which, by the way, I want to talk to the two of you about that," he added, staring them down. The twins had the good grace to at least act ashamed, even if they felt no remorse whatsoever. The others looked from James to the twins curiously, all wondering what they were talking about. (none of them knew about the bet) It wasn't until Rose spoke that they all tore their minds away from the mystery.

"Wait, I'm sure that my ears are mistaken, I could've sworn I just heard you refer to Brynne as your _girlfriend_? What the hell is that about?" demanded Rose. She looked at James and Brynne accusingly; James's eyes widened in panic, while Brynne's face scrunched in confusion.

"N-nothing it's nothing," stammered James, "You must've heard me wrong. I said my _best _friend, not my _girl _friend." Brynne and Rose both shrugged, letting it go. They didn't think on it any longer. Instead Rose turned her attention to being furious at what Brynne had just put her through.

"Well now that I know that my best friend _isn't _about to kill herself, would one of you mind answering one _tiny_ question," she began coldly. James and Brynne looked at her, waiting for the storm that they knew was coming. The Weasley's were famed for their temper, and Rose was no exception.

"What the HELL were you thinking Brynne!" screamed Rose. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? How scared I was that we would be too late?" Brynne looked down in shame; she knew that she had never been planning on killing herself, but she still should've thought about what it would look like to her friends. She felt bad for putting them through that. Brynne was distracted from her thoughts as Rose continued with her tirade.

"And YOU!" she shrieked, now turning on a terrified James. "I don't know what you did to bring this on James Sirius Potter, but I assure you that if you EVER do it again I will look up the curse of a thousand tombs and I will figure out how to cast it and then I WILL use it on your worthless arse! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME JAMES POTTER?!" James whimpered meekly and seemed to shrink in the face of his cousin's fury. It was silent for a long time as they listened to the echo of Rose's screams.

"First of all," Brynne said, as soon as she was sure that Rose was done, "I _wasn't _trying to kill myself. You guys just overreacted. Yes I was upset, yes it was stupid of me not to go to you guys instead of making you worry like that, but I was never going to throw myself off the tower. I just wanted to be a lone for a few minutes," she explained. The others all blinked in surprise.

"Oh," Rose said.

"That's what I said," James muttered under his breath, but no one paid him any mind.

"That's a relief," Albus broke in. They stood their in awkward silence for a few moments. It wasn't until Brynne casually looked down at her watch that the silence was broken.

"HOLY CROW WE MISSED CURFEW!" shrieked Brynne in panic. How could they have neglected to mention this to her? They were supposed to have been in the common room at least two hours ago! The others looked from one to the other before bursting into hysterics. Brynne's hair turned flame orange and her eyes seemed to match as she looked at them in indignant fury.

"_What,_ pray tell, is so funny?" she hissed. The others continued to ignore her as they tried and failed miserably to control their hysterics. Albus was the first to regain speech.

"I'm...sorry Brynne...It's just too funny..." he gasped as he clutched a stitch in his side. Brynne narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Oh?" she asked coolly. "And how is it funny Albus? Do enlighten me." Rose guffawed.

"Be serious Brynne. You just had a meltdown that made us think you were about to throw yourself off the Astronomy Tower; you are currently in an area of Hogwarts that could get you detentions for the rest of the year, not to mention lose about a thousand house points just for _looking_ at this place without permission, and you're worried about being caught outside after _curfew?_ Don't you think it's a bit late for that?" Brynne blushed crimson.

"Well when you put it _that _way..." she trailed off as they all began to laugh again. This time she joined in. But she then realized that they were about to be in serious trouble if they did not move. _Soon. _

"Come on, we have to go," she said urgently. The others grew silent as they registered her tone.

"What's wrong?" questioned James. Brynne turned to face him.

"Well as Rose has just pointed out, we are currently in a position that could very well get us expelled if we are caught, and if no one in this entire castle heard Rose's tirade three seconds ago then I'm the bloody heir of Slytherin." They all took on somber expressions as they realized what Brynne was saying. Suddenly footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

"Shit," muttered Rose under her breath.

"Definitely not good," agreed Albus, his face draining of all color. Even the twins, who were famed for their many detentions, looked a little frightened at the fate that awaited them. Brynne looked around, desperate for an escape. Suddenly an idea hit her so hard that her face literally lit up. Her hair turned a brilliant shade of orange and her eyes glowed amber in the moonlight.

"Come on," she whispered, motioning for the others to follow her. She led them to the balcony and then motioned for them to jump. They all looked at her like she was crazy.

"Um...Brynne? Didn't we JUST establish the fact that you are _not _suicidal?" demanded James, confused. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"I'm not trying to kill myself," she assured them.

"Brynne sweetie, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this but...even if you aren't _trying _to kill yourself, a fall from 200 feet up is still _going _to kill you," Rose explained as gently as she could.

Brynne glared at her, annoyed.

"That may be true of _muggles_ Rose, but in case you've forgotten, we're witches. We have this little ability called magic that comes in handy at times such as these." she explained as if talking to a two year old. Even though Rose and Albus still looked confused, the twins and James were now looking at Brynne as if they had never seen anything like her.

"How have we ever overlooked you in our plans for mayhem?" mused Roxi to herself.

"Bloody brilliant," said Fred. James just looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Brynne began to feel a bit self-conscious, something that didn't happen often. Her hair grew long and dark so as to cover her blushing face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she demanded crossly. James just shook his head.

"Remind me again why you never help us with our pranks?" he asked. Brynne scoffed.

"I have better things to do with my time Potter," she said smiling. James stuck out his tongue.

"Uh...hate to interrupt your little moment here but in case you all haven't noticed, _we are in danger of getting expelled right about now!" _hissed Albus crossly. He was not about to get expelled from Hogwarts. Not on his watch. They all snapped out of it as Brynne climbed onto the railing and balanced there for an instant, smiling.

"Wish me luck," she whispered before leaping into the night. They all rushed to look down at the ground. But instead of the hard cobblestones there now lay a gigantic pool of water with ripples going out from the middle where Brynne had just dove in. Fred looked from the pool to James in disbelief.

"Mate, let me know if you change your mind about her, because if you won't date her, then I _will,"_ he said to his cousin solemnly. James chuckled darkly. He climbed swiftly onto the railing, and before he dove he looked back at Fred, smiling wolfishly.

"Not a chance in hell," he answered before disappearing over the edge. They heard a splash as he landed in the pool and a scream as he splashed some water at a recently dried off Brynne. Fred and Roxi went next, followed by a laughing Rose. Albus was the last one. He looked reluctantly at the railing and the long drop to the pool below. Sighing loudly he climbed up and with one last look at the stairs said, "Here goes nothing," and jumped. He had just landed in the water when a young girl appeared on the steps, followed by a cat with glowing red eyes.

"We'll catch them next time Mrs. Norris," she assured the cat. And without another word, Jane Filch walked casually down the steps in search of her father, eager to inform him of the students that were wandering about out of beds long after curfew.

The six friends made it back to the Gryffindor common room in one piece and quickly headed off to bed. They awoke the next morning, exhausted after their late night adventure, but eager to have another. Fortunately for them, they would soon get the opportunity. That morning, hanging on a wall in the Great Hall, was a flier announcing that there would be a surprise trip to Hogsmeade that day to celebrate the first weekend back at school. James, Fred, and Albus all pumped their fists in the air.

"YES!" They all exclaimed. Brynne rolled her eyes, but even she couldn't conceal all of her excitement. Roxi and Rose were practically singing. In fact, they were chanting something that sounded an awful lot like "Shopping, shopping, shopping!" But all hopes for the afternoon were dashed by the appearance of Rose's parents.

"Don't think that we are allowing you anywhere near the village this weekend young lady," warned Professor Ron Weasley severely. Rose's grin fell away in shock.

"What? Daddy Why?" she demanded in her best imitation of a child who'd just been told Christmas had been canceled. Her parents both glared at her.

"Did you honestly think that we would let any of you be going anywhere after that food fight last week?" demanded Hermione. The others let out cries of protests.

"That's not fair!" yelled Fred. "Longbottom and Malfoy get to go! They were involved in this just as much as we were!" He was silenced by the look his aunt gave him.

"I'm not their head of house am I?" she pointed out. The six teens grumbled as they went off to go sit in the courtyard. On the way they ran into Hugo and Lily. Lily Potter was James' and Albus' younger sister, and Hugo was, to Rose's great misgivings, her younger brother.

"Hey you guys, what's up?" demanded Lily as she avoided having her hair ruffled by Fred and James. "Are you going to Hogsmeade? Maybe we can meet up at the Three Broomsticks later on." They all took on solemn expressions.

"Can't Lils, Aunt Hermione's forbidden us from leaving the campus," explained Albus. Lily looked at them in disbelief.

"And you're _listening _to her?" she demanded of James and Fred. They looked confused.

"Well what else are we _supposed _to do Lily?" asked an annoyed Fred, "We can't get past Filch or his blasted daughter without getting caught!" Lily looked like the world had just caved in.

"You are the bloody Marauders for Christ's sake! You have the map and the bloody cloak! Since when have you started listening to the directions of teachers?" Fred and James both looked ashamed. They hadn't even thought of the map or the cloak. Brynne looked at them in curiosity.

"What cloak? What map is she talking about? James?" The look on everyone's face took on a rather shifty quality. Brynne was the only one in their group of friends who didn't know about the Marauder's Map or the invisibility cloak James had inherited from his father, Harry. The others had all agreed that she would most likely throw a fit and insist that they hand them in. Not that Fred, James, Roxi, or Rose for that matter, would have ever let that happen. They all valued the gifts from past Marauders too much.

"James?" pressed a now suspicious Brynne. James glared at his younger sister.

"Thanks a lot Lils," he growled, running a hand though his messy hair. He turned to Brynne reluctantly, not looking forward to the look on her face when he told her about the map and cloak.

"Well, you see...there _might _be a way for us to go to Hogsmeade after all," he explained slowly. Brynne raised an eyebrow. Her eyes had turned to a light shade of gray and her hair was now a dark brown, almost black. She looked calm. But James interpreted it as the calm before the storm: deceptive...and dangerous.

"Oh?" asked Brynne, her voice carefully controlled to hide her suspicion.

"Yeah," said James, "Here, I'll show it to you." He turned and began to walk quickly back to the Gryffindor common room. The others followed him, leaving Lily and Hugo in the Great Hall.

"See you at the Three Broomsticks then!" called Lily after her family and Brynne. James didn't even look back but he did flip her off in frustration. Lily chuckled. She had definitely succeeded in ticking him off. Hey, it was her job.

"Love you too bro!" she yelled out before turning to meet Hugo where he was waiting for her.

They reached the common room in good time and immediately turned to the boy's dormitories. James locked the door behind them and then looked around to make sure that no one else was there with them. Then he turned and faced Brynne nervously.

"Now don't get mad," he told her. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"Uh-oh, I can already tell this is something bad," she muttered under her breath. Rose snorted in amusement, but shut up when James and Fred both shot her a glare.

"Okay well, you know how my grandfather was part of that group of pranksters when he was younger?" asked James. Brynne smiled knowingly.

"You mean the Marauders? The one with your granddad, Sirius Black, Teddy's dad, and Rose's father's old rat in it?" she clarified. She had heard all of the stories of the shenanigans that James and his family had all gotten into. James blushed.

"Yeah well, you're sort of looking at the next generation of Marauders," he admitted. Brynne's smile disappeared.

"You're joking," was all she said. James, Fred, Roxi, and Rose all looked down, ashamed. Brynne turned to look at Albus, who held his hands up.

"Don't look at me," he told her, "I refused to have any part in this." Brynne looked at all of them. Fury, betrayal, and hurt shone in her electric blue eyes. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. Her hair slowly turned a dark, smoky gray, almost black, and when she opened her eyes they were the same. She seemed to be concentrating hard on not revealing any of her true emotions. James took this as a sign that he should continue. Otherwise she would've already exploded.

"Well, the Marauder's Map, and my dad's old invisibility cloak, I got them when I was eleven. And we've been using them ever since," he explained. He studied her carefully to see how she would react.

Brynne looked as if she had been smacked. Her attempt at metamorphosis immediately disappeared, being replaced with her true appearance. James winced away from the accusation in her eyes.

"And none of you ever felt the need to tell me about this?" she demanded. She looked at her friends' faces one by one. Her eyes rested on James in the end and that was where they stayed.

"Why?" she asked, her voice breaking. They all grimaced at the pain in her voice.

"W-well we knew you didn't approve of breaking the rules and we were worried that...if you knew you might..." Rose trailed off at the fury in Brynne's face. Brynne looked absolutely livid. James had honestly never seen her so angry in his entire life. And he had known Brynne for a very long time.

"You thought _what?_" she hissed, "That I would turn you in? That I would play the snitch and earn you all about a year's worth of detentions?" She shook her head in disbelief and they all were shocked to see that she was fighting back tears. "Didn't you guys _trust _me?" Rose looked up at this.

"Of course we trust you Brynne..." she protested, but she was cut short by her best friend.

"Yeah, enough to keep a major part of your lives a secret from me for five goddamn years!" she screamed. "Merlin, what was the point of being my friend if all you were going to do was lie to me? You're supposed to be my best friends!"

"Brynne I had no part in this," began Albus. Brynne silenced him with a look.

"But you _knew_ didn't you?" she demanded. "You knew all along and you didn't tell me!" They all looked at one another. Brynne's eyes now shone with tears.

"Brynne?" began Roxi cautiously; she reached out a hand for Brynne but was shrugged off violently. Brynne shot her a glare that could kill kittens.

"Some friends you are," she spat, "have fun in Hogsmeade." And with that she turned and was gone. As soon as she was out the door Rose collapsed in tears and Roxi looked no better. Fred and Albus just looked at each other silently. They were at a complete loss for words. James didn't speak, didn't even blink before turning and grabbing the map and the invisibility cloak from his trunk. This made the others look up.

"Where are you going mate?" asked Fred, puzzled. James looked at him as if he were stupid.

"I'm going to Hogsmeade," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Where else?" They all just stared at him as if he had lost his sanity.

"James?" asked a worried Rose, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," was all she got.

"James really it's okay if you..." began Roxi.

"I'm fine Rox,"

"James, are you sure?"

"I'M FINE! OKAY?" shouted James, loosing his patience, "JUST BECAUSE BRYNNE IS MAD DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE TO FORGO ALL PLANS OF HAVING FUN! GOT IT? NOW STOP ACTING LIKE I'M ABOUT TO BREAK!" They all looked at him nervously.

"Okay," agreed Albus. They all were anxious to make sure James didn't do anything stupid but none of them made a move to follow him as he swung the cloak around and disappeared out the door. Instead they all sat there, thinking about what had just happened, and kicking themselves for having never trusted Brynne enough to tell her the truth.

Brynne didn't stop to think where she was going. The only thought she had was to get as far away from her so-called friends as possible. She ran long and hard, finding herself in an unknown part of the castle. She'd never seen it before, but she still recognized the statue of a hump-backed witch from stories Mr. and Mrs. Potter had told her of their adventures. It was a passage into Hogsmeade.

Happiness overcame Brynne as a brilliant plan over took her. No one need know she was in Hogsmeade. She could disguise herself quite effectively without worrying about being caught. She'd look like just another Hogwarts student. Brynne closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened her eyes she had dark red hair and almond shaped eyes that glowed an emerald green. She was taller and her face was longer and softer. She even managed to give herself a few more curves. She looked stunningly gorgeous, but eerily familiar, although she couldn't remember where she had seen someone like her before. Satisfied that she would not be recognized even by her friends, she tapped her wand on the statue's hump and whispered the password. The witch leaped aside to reveal a set of stairs leading downward into the darkness.

Brynne took a deep breath before stepping into the passage way.

"Lumos," she whispered and a light appeared at the tip of her wand, lighting the path ahead of her. She followed it a long ways before she began to notice that the path was slowly beginning to steep upwards. She grew excited, knowing that she was nearing the end of the passage. It was only after she had bumped her head on a trapdoor did she realize that she must be there.

She opened the trapdoor and climbed into the cellar of Honeydukes. Boxes and boxes were stacked in rows and rows of sweets. A heady smell hung in the air. It was the smell of heaven to Brynne. She had always loved the smell of candy, especially wizarding candy. After all, there was magic in it. She bounced up the stairs in excitement and was relieved to see the hustle and bustle of many students as they perused the shelves for goodies. She was lost in a swirl of color and couldn't help but feel just a little bit better. Rose had always said that there was no better cure for heartache than a good helping of Honeydukes. Pain shot through her chest at the thought of her now ex-best friend. She couldn't believe that they had known each other so long and they had still felt the need to keep something from her. When, in all the years she had known them, had she ever given them a reason to doubt her?

Brynne wandered in and out of the aisles of candy, picking out the ones she wished to buy. She got a box of Bertie Botts, a package of Chocolate Frogs, and a bag of Peppermint Imps. They were her favorite wizarding candy; she couldn't get enough of them.

When Brynne's hands were full of candy she walked out of the store and headed straight for her second favorite shop in all of Hogsmeade: the book store. Brynne entered and immediately headed straight to the back and picked out a random book. Looking down at the title she realized that it was full of tales from the war. She sat down and opened a package of Chocolate Frogs and began to munch away as she became lost in the history of her world. She felt a strange urge to have been there, to have been able to do her part in defeating the darkest wizard of all time. But she knew that it could never happen. She was stuck in her own time, in her own problems. A voice woke her from her daydreams.

"I knew you'd be here," announced a voice that she knew only to well. She looked up slowly, working to conceal her surprise.

"Sorry but...who are you?" she asked, faking confusion as she looked into the eyes of the last person she wanted to see at the moment; the one, the only, James Potter. James laughed at this.

"Oh you are good," he admitted, "but not good enough. Face it Brynne, I know you too well. You always go somewhere with books whenever you're upset. Besides," he smirked at a thought he was having and leaned in close to her face, Brynne's eyes widened in surprise at his proximity; he leaned in further and whispered in her ear, "Only you would disguise yourself as my grandmother, Brynne," he laughed softly. She glared at him, confusion clouding her mind.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, "I look nothing like Molly Weasley." James laughed at this.

"No," he conceded, "But you look a hell of a lot like Lily Evans Potter," he pointed out. Brynne's mouth dropped open in a perfect O as she realized why she had thought that she looked eerily familiar. She had recognized herself from the pictures of James's dead grandmother hanging in his house. Of course. James chuckled at the look on her face.

"Really Brynne? You're losing you originality if you have to resort to my relatives for a decent disguise," he teased. She glared at him.

"Sod off Potter," she hissed, gathering her items carefully and rising to walk towards the front desk. She would buy the book she had been reading and finish it later. James kept stride with her easily. He snatched the book out of her hands deftly; his skills of a Chaser came in handy at moments such as these. She growled and turned to face him.

"Give that back Potter," she ordered. He raised an eyebrow at her and glanced down at the cover, choosing to ignore her as he read the title.

"You're reading about the war?" he asked her curiously. She snatched the book away from him quickly and turned to resume her journey to the front desk.

"Well it happens to be a subject of fascination for me," she admitted tersely. He nodded silently.

"The war's not a subject you should be fascinated in," he told her, "Too many people were lost in that war; too many people's lives were destroyed. Families were ripped apart; my father's family was one of them. My dad suffered the most. It's not necessarily a fascinating subject Brynne." Brynne sighed. James had always disliked talk of the war, saying that it was better left in the past, where it belonged. She disagreed with him on that. But there wasn't very much she could say to change his mind.

"James, I know very well how much you dislike talk of the war, and I know very well the effect it has had on your family, but that doesn't mean that it should be left alone to be forgotten. If we forget all our mistakes then we forget the lessons learned and therefore are bound to repeat them. And I'd rather not have to repeat this war...would you?" she stopped and turned to look at him. She knew that she had won the argument this time by the look on his face. He couldn't argue with her logic, and anyway she could read what she liked, he had no control over it. She turned to the cashier and purchased the book with the little money she had left, and then turned to exit the shop. James followed her, apparently unaware that he was unwanted.

"You do realize that I am still furious with you, right?" she demanded of him. He didn't even make a face.

"Yes, but you're currently talking to me without jinxing me into the next century, which means that you'll get over it within the next day or so," he told her confidently. She snorted in disbelief. He smiled at her.

"Trust me Brynne," he said, "I know you much better than you think." She rolled her eyes at this but made no move to correct him. He continued to follow her.

"So...wanna come meet Lily with me at the Three Broomsticks?" he asked. Brynne snickered at this thought.

"Fat chance Potter," she answered, "I'm mad at you, remember?" James growled.

"Well too bad Ms. Wood, because you are officially coming with me." And with that he picked her up and flung her over his shoulder, flour sack style. She shrieked in protest.

"Let me go James Potter!" she screamed in fury. He just laughed.

"Nah, don't think I will," he told her. She glared at the back of his head, which was about the only thing she could see aside from his butt. And she certainly _was not_ about to look at _that_.

"You do realize that, in some countries, this is considered kidnapping right?" she asked him, "In fact, I'm pretty sure it's considered kidnapping in _this _country." He just laughed and walked a bit faster. He didn't set her down until they were at the door of the Three Broomsticks and even then he continued to drag her by the arm into the pub. He sat her down at a table where his younger sister and his cousin were both staring at him like he'd grown a few tentacles.

"What?" he demanded of them while sitting down next to Brynne on the outside of the booth, effectively blocking off her only way of escape. The other two just stared at him.

"Um...James? Where are the others and why did you just drag a girl who looks bizarrely like our dead grandmother into this pub?" asked Lily, confused. James shrugged.

"The others chickened out I guess, and it's not our grandmother's ghost, don't worry. It's Brynne."

"Oh...hi Brynne," said Lily, accepting her brother's answer.

"I don't understand," began Hugo, "It's not like Fred and Roxi to chicken out. And it's not like Rose either. I mean, those three live for the thrill of danger." Hugo was clearly worried about his older sister.

"Um...hate to interrupt the sharing of family news, but may I please go now?" demanded an irate Brynne.

"Nope," answered James, "Not until you decide to stop being mad at me," he said.

"I will when you apologize for being an arsehole and admit that I am a trusting person. And when you agree to make me a member of the Marauders." said Brynne. James laughed.

"I can give you the first two things, but no way in hell am I letting you become a Marauder," he told her. Brynne scowled angrily.

"And why not?" she demanded. He looked at her laughing.

"Come on Brynne," he said, "You? A Marauder? You won't even break curfew to get food from the kitchens much less actually pull a prank in the dead of night. You're too nice." At that moment their butterbeers arrived and Brynne, who had developed a murderous look on her face, suddenly smirked evilly. The look on her face made James nervous.

"Too nice am I?" she asked, smirking as she grabbed a butterbeer from the table. She suddenly poured it over his head and pushed him off the seat. She stood up and headed for the door. She turned to stare at him dripping on the floor.

"How's that for nice?" she asked, and then left the pub.

"Damn that was hot," whispered a shocked James. He turned to glare at his sister and cousin.

"You saw none of that, agreed?" he told them. They both smirked evilly.

"Of course darling brother," agreed Lily sweetly...too sweet. James was about to growl a few well placed threats when all of a sudden a high pierced shriek tore through the air, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Brynne," he whispered, and tore through the pub at lightning speed, fighting to get to the door and scared stiff as to what that scream had meant. He reached the door in record time and opened it to see the horrific sight that lay before him. There was Brynne, lying in a circle of dark, hooded figures; blood was gushing out of her from several wounds in her side and her face was white. Her hair was back to its original white blonde so great was her pain, and her blue eyes shone like two pools of agony. James felt a surge of anger rush through his entire body. Whoever these people were, they would pay for touching Brynne.

The figures were laughing; deep, barking laughs. They used their wands to draw on the cobblestone street in Brynne's blood. The word's they spelled were these:

WE ARE THE WOLVES. AND WE ARE ON THE HUNT. SOON ALL YOU LOVE WILL BE ASHES.

And with loud pops, they were gone, leaving Brynne to lie there lifeless in a pool of blood.

**Sorry it's a lot shorter than the last chapter. I've been very busy lately and am experiencing a small bout of writers block. Don't worry I'll get over it. It probably has something to do with the fact that it is currently 1:42 in the morning. Ah the things i do for you people. I was just too excited to stop writing. I wanted to post this tonight. Or this morning. Urgh whatever! So please review! Please please please with a cherry on top. It was ridiculous how few reviews i got last time out of the 58 people who read my story. So please...review. Seriously.**


	3. Chapter 3

_"Too nice am I?" she asked, smirking as she grabbed a butterbeer from the table. She suddenly poured it over his head and pushed him off the seat. She stood up and headed for the door. She turned to stare at him dripping on the floor._

_"How's that for nice?" she asked, and then left the pub._

_"Damn that was hot," whispered a shocked James. He turned to glare at his sister and cousin._

_"You saw none of that, agreed?" he told them. They both smirked evilly._

_"Of course darling brother," agreed Lily sweetly...too sweet. James was about to growl a few well placed threats when all of a sudden a high pierced shriek tore through the air, stopping him dead in his tracks._

_"Brynne," he whispered, and tore through the pub at lightning speed, fighting to get to the door and scared stiff as to what that scream had meant. He reached the door in record time and opened it to see the horrific sight that lay before him. There was Brynne, lying in a circle of dark, hooded figures; blood was gushing out of her from several wounds in her side and her face was white. Her hair was back in it's original white blonde so great was her pain, and her blue eyes shone like too pools of agony. James felt a surge of anger rush through his entire body. Whoever these people were, they would pay for touching Brynne._

_The figures were laughing; deep, barking laughs. They used their wands to draw on the cobblestone street in Brynne's blood. The word's they spelled were these:_

_WE ARE THE WOLVES. AND WE ARE ON THE HUNT. SOON ALL YOU LOVE WILL BE ASHES._

_And with loud pops they were gone, leaving Brynne to lie there lifeless in a pool of blood._

_**Sorry it took so long to update. Things are getting pretty busy here in the land of boarding school. Freshman trip was this week and i got to meet some more of my fellow week is the big football game against our long time rivals. The entire week is dedicated to all types of football shenanigans. But onward to continue our story! Enjoy.**_

_**I do not own Harry Potter but God only knows i wish i did.  
**_

**Chapter Three**

**Hospital Wings, Prophecies, and Dead People Who Talk**

James rushed forward to Brynne. Her face was white and bloodless, her eyes were closed tightly in pain, and she was groaning weakly. James felt too many emotions to count. The chief one in his mind was fear. He didn't like the color in Brynne's face. He took her wrist in his hands and felt for a pulse. It was weak and far slower than it should have been, but it was there.  
He looked up, desperate for help. His eyes fell immediately on Madame Rosmerta, the owner of the Three Broomsticks.

"Madame Rosmerta, get McGonagall!" he shouted, terror coursing through his body. "Tell her a student has been attacked." He looked down at Brynne's lifeless form in his arms and began to panic. What if she didn't make it?

"Don't you die on me now Brynne, don't you _dare _die," he hissed, furious at having allowed this to happen. "I don't care if you hate me for the rest of your damn life just as long as you have one to hate me for," he told her. He realized that he was crying, but he just didn't care. He sat there, rocking her gently for what seemed like hours before he heard footsteps coming their way. He looked up to see Professor McGonagall, followed by his aunt and uncle, as well as his father. James was, to say the least, confused.

"Dad?" he said, "What are you doing here?" Harry Potter rolled his eyes.

"I should've known you'd be involved in this somehow," he muttered, "You inherited your talent for trouble from me unfortunately." He turned back to his son and his eyes were filled with grim humor. "I'm the head of the Auror Department James, who else did you think they'd call when a Hogwarts student gets attacked?" James just shrugged. He honestly hadn't thought too much about it.

"What happened?" demanded the school nurse, Madame Clearwater, her sharp gray eyes fixed on James and he knew that she was about as surprised to see him here as his father. James really _did _have a knack for getting into trouble. James told her the story of what had happened, and he saw her face whiten visibly. She turned away from him and began to inspect Brynne. Her hands were shaking slightly.

"Is she gonna be okay?" he asked. Madame Clearwater kept her eyes on Brynne, checking and double checking to make sure that the bleeding had stopped.

"Hard to say," she told him, "She's lost a lot of blood, but she's strong and I've never known Ms. Wood to go down without a fight. I think there's a good chance she'll pull through." She looked up and spoke to Professor McGonagall.

"She's got deep lacerations all down her sides and she shows signs of having been subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. I honesty haven't seen wounds like these since the war was ended. Whoever did this, I don't think they were intending for her to survive," she explained solemnly. James looked on as his headmistress, for the first time in all the years he'd known her, showed signs of horror.

"Good heavens," stammered Professor McGonagall, "Who could've done this? Surely you can give us a better description of these people Mr. Potter," she turned to look at James. He felt like an idiot. He should have tried to get a closer look at who had done this. But he hadn't, and all he could give to Professor McGonagall was what he had already told her. Professor McGonagall hid her disappointment very well, but Harry noticed a flash in her eyes. James looked away from his headmistress and his father to turn his attention back to Brynne, who was currently stretched unconscious on a magically levitating stretcher. Madame Clearwater was in a hurry to get her back to the hospital wing. The bleeding still hadn't stopped, despite her best efforts and she knew that she would need some serious medical attention if she was expected to pull through. She hurried to get Brynne off to the castle and James made to follow her, but was stopped by his father. James turned to look at his father, questions shining in his eyes.

"Dad, I need to be there for her," he told his father calmly. Harry stopped him once again as he made to follow Brynne and Madame Clearwater once more.

"I know son, but I still need you here, I need to make sure that I've got all the information before I file the report at the ministry. This is really serious; a Hogwarts student hasn't been attacked in over 23 years, not since before we won the war," he explained. James rolled his eyes in impatience; he was beginning to loose his temper.

"Yes dad I know that, but I've given you all the information I have so, if you don't mind, that's one of my best friends bleeding to death up there and whether you let me or not, I'm _going_ to be there for her," he hissed softly, narrowing his eyes at his father. Harry couldn't help but feel a rush of pride for his son's loyalty. It was no less than what he would've done at his age, but back then he had been the one fighting the darkness. He hoped his son would never have to carry that burden on his shoulders.

"I can't let you go yet," he said reluctantly, "Trust me James, that isn't something you want in your memory." James just glared.

"All the more reason why I should be there," he answered. Harry opened his mouth to protest but was interrupted before he could say anything. "If you think I'm going to let Brynne face something like this alone then you obviously don't know me that well, Dad," he added, and with that he turned and stalked back up to the castle. Harry made no move to stop him, he was too damn proud of his son's guts.

"That young man reminds me more and more of you every day," murmured his old Transfiguration Professor. He chuckled, but shook his head.

"I never got into that much trouble when I was his age," he told her. Professor McGonagall snorted.

"Want to bet?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with amusement behind square spectacles. "You, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Granger gave me more gray hairs than even your parents and their friends. And _that_ is saying something." With those words she turned and headed back up to the castle, leaving Harry to chuckle silently before apparating to the Ministry.

James arrived at the hospital wing to a scene of utter chaos. Madame Clearwater was hurrying about; desperate to stop the bleeding, but whatever curse had been used on Brynne was one she was unfamiliar with and unable to heal. Brynne grew paler and paler by the minute as she was slowly drained of life. James could hardly stand to look at her and watch her bleed to death. It was too much blood; it was everywhere he looked. James felt his vision turning red as her fought to control his anger at the people who had done this. He needed to be there for Brynne. He slowly walked to her bedside and took her hand. He closed his eyes and prayed fervently for her to pull through.

Brynne felt only pain, white and hot. She couldn't think, she couldn't move, she couldn't even breathe for the pain. Slowly the pain began to ebb. As it dulled Brynne found that she was able to open her eyes and sit up. But when she did she discovered that she did not know where she was. She wasn't in the hospital wing at Hogwarts or even in Hogsmeade where she had been attacked. She wasn't even in a dungeon like she would assume she would be if she had been kidnapped. Instead she seemed to be...well...nowhere.

Everything was white; at least that's what it seemed like. The floor (there was a floor oddly enough) was white, and the walls were white. White mist floated everywhere, obscuring everything else from view. She looked down and saw that she was wearing a white cotton dress instead of her usual school robes. The dress was lighter than air and cool. It seemed to move as if caught in a light breeze, but the air was still. She thought that it must be magic then. She looked at her hands, searching for a scar on her right wrist from when she had flown through a window when she was eight. But her wrists were smooth and unmarked. Brynne felt her eyebrows rise in surprise and then decide to try something. She concentrated hard on making herself darker, a feat she had mastered at the age of six, but her skin stayed the same pale ivory. Her metamorphosis didn't seem to work here, wherever _here_ was.

Deciding to explore a bit Brynne wandered around, looking for any distinguishable landmarks that would tell her where she was. She was just about to give up, and had begun to wish that she could find someplace to sit down when out of the blue a bench appeared out of the mist.

"Weird," said Brynne aloud, "I wonder what else this place does?"

"That depends on what you ask of it," explained a voice from the mist. Brynne whirled around to see a strange man standing before her. He was very old and wearing purple wizarding robes. His long silver beard fell past his belt and he wore a pair of half-moon spectacles upon a rather long and crooked nose. She thought that he looked familiar, but she couldn't think of where she had seen him before.

"Who are you?" asked Brynne, wary of this strange man. He smiled kindly.

"Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore at your service," he answered with a small bow and a kind smile. Brynne felt her heart speed up at this.

"But you're dead," she said simply. Professor Dumbledore nodded.

"That is correct Ms. Wood," he told her.

"So does that mean...am I... does that make _me _dead?" she asked nervously. Professor Dumbledore smiled.

"No Ms. Wood, you are not dead yet," he answered, "However you have been seriously injured and at this moment you are very close to death, which is why I am able to speak to you." Brynne nodded silently and looked around once more.

"Where am I?" she asked, curious.

"Wherever you would like to be I should assume," answered Dumbledore unhelpfully. "Does anything look familiar to you?" Brynne looked around, searching for details. The bench that she had been sitting on had slowly turned into a small gazebo, and it seemed to overlook a meadow. Rows upon rows of chairs were arranged and ribbons and flowers seemed to cover every surface.

"It looks like a wedding I once attended," she admitted. "When I was twelve, one of my cousins got married in a place very similar to this one. I was made a bridesmaid and I was told to bring a date. I didn't know anyone I wanted to go with so I ended up going with..." she trailed off as she became lost in the memory. She had gone with James and they had been forced to dance together. She remembered that he purposefully whispered jokes in her ear to make her laugh during the toasts and how they had both promised each other that they would dance together at each other's weddings.

"With whom, might I ask?" nudged Dumbledore. Brynne shook her head to clear it.

"A friend," she answered vaguely. Dumbledore nodded knowingly but said no more on the subject. Brynne then remembered something.

"Sir, you said that I'm not dead yet," she began slowly, "Does that mean that I am dying?" Dumbledore chuckled.

"A good question and one that I shall answer soon, but first I believe that there are a few people who would like to speak to you." Brynne looked around, searching for anymore dead people waiting to talk to her, but she found none.

"Who?" she asked, curious.

"That would be us," came a different voice. Brynne jumped about a foot in the air as she realized that they were no longer alone. She turned around and nearly fainted at the sight. For there, standing right in front of her, was James.

"James?" asked Brynne, wanting to make sure that she hadn't gone crazy. The man shrugged.

"That is my name, but I don't think you're thinking of the same James as me. In fact I believe you are referring to my grandson who is currently alive and well and holding your hand as we speak." Brynne looked down at her hand on instinct. She looked up again and saw that this James was slightly older than the James she knew, but only by a few years. He had a few more lines around his eyes and, unlike James, he was also wearing glasses. He stood next to a rather pretty young redhead who had eyes she recognized as belonging to Albus and his father. Brynne realized that she was now looking at the original James and Lily Potter.

"Hello Abrynne," greeted Lily, "It's a pleasure to meet you." Brynne smiled awkwardly at Lily.

"Okay someone please explain to me why I am suddenly talking to three dead people before I come to the conclusion that I have finally lost my mind," she said aloud. The others all laughed at this before realizing that she was being serious.

"Well it would appear that you are not dead, but that you are close enough that you can converse freely with those who are in fact deceased," explained Dumbledore.

"I figured that much out on my own thanks," said Brynne dryly. "What I want to know is why?"

"Well obviously we have something important to tell you," announced Lily impatiently.

"Alright then spit out why don't you!" exclaimed a frustrated Brynne, "I'm tired of being stuck as almost dead. Either let me rejoin the living or get it over with and let me die already!" She had never been good with patience.

"Well that's what we're trying to do you twit! If you would shut your mouth long enough for me to explain a couple of things then this would get done a hell of a lot faster!" shouted Lily, who was starting to show signs of her famous red-head temper. She took a few calming breathes and opened her eyes once more.

"You see, there are a few things going on in your world that shouldn't. Dark times are coming soon. Darker even than those we faced when we were your age. The only way they can be defeated is through a prophecy," explained James.

"What prophecy?" asked Brynne, "And what does that have to do with me?"

"_When darkness comes to take the day, the wolves of night descend. _

_They come to steal all earthly joy and many to death they'll send. _

_But the power to defeat them lies within a union destined by the stars._

_ And the green-eyed changer with wisdom old joins with a heroes' son to heal these wretched scars. _

_But hurry, make haste for should you wait till darkness eats the sun_

_No bright day shall be seen again and the Order shall be done," _recited Dumbledore, power echoing from his voice. They all stood silent at this.

"So what does it mean?" demanded Brynne, "Who is this green eyed changer they're talking about? And what about all that darkness covering the sun crap?"

"We think that there is some evil lurking, waiting to take control. And it's going to do so soon," explained Lily.

"How soon?"

"In about two years there's going to be a solar eclipse. We believe that is what the prophecy means by "when darkness comes to take the day" and "till darkness eats the sun". That's the day this evil will strike, and if we don't have a way to defeat it by that time then all is lost," explained James.

"As for the changer it speaks of, we believe that it is referring to you," said Dumbledore.

"Me?" demanded Brynne, "Why would you think that? Just because I am a metamorphamagus doesn't mean I'm the one you're looking for. There are hundreds like me out there. And besides, I don't have green eyes, or whatever this "wisdom old" is."

"But that's where you're wrong," said Lily.

"Now that you have spoken with the dead while still alive, you will be able to speak to any of the dead, at any time. In fact some of them might seek you out," explained James. Brynne shook her head.

"It still doesn't explain the green eyes," she said stubbornly.

"We believe that once you return to your world, your new power will manifest itself in your eyes, turning them permanently green," explained Dumbledore. "It's been known to happen. And that would make you the most likely subject of the prophecy.

"So I am returning to my world then? I'm not dead?" asked Brynne, excited and more than a little hopeful that this was all a dream she was about to wake up from.

"No you are not dead. You are however bleeding heavily from wounds in your side. You are very close to death, however, once you are given the power it will automatically heal any wounds you have suffered. You will be good as new," explained Dumbledore.

"Are you ready to go back yet?" asked Lily, her eyes sparkling warmly. Brynne nodded. Lily kissed her forehead, sending a jolt of electricity through her.

"Now you have the power to communicate with us freely," she whispered. "Good luck Abrynne, Merlin knows you'll need it." And with that the world started to fade as Brynne slowly reentered reality.

Meanwhile James was watching anxiously as Brynne slipped farther and farther to a place where he could not follow. Holding her hand he could feel it getting colder and colder. Suddenly he felt as if something were really wrong. He felt for a pulse but found nothing. He called desperately for Madame Clearwater who came running. After listening for a heartbeat and performing several enchantments James saw tears rolling down the young nurse's face.

"I'm sorry, she's gone," whispered Madame Clearwater. James felt as if the whole world had come to an end. Never before had he experienced the pain tearing through his chest. Tears welled up in his eyes and before he could stop them they fell onto Brynne's sheets. He broke down into harsh sobs, rocking back and forth in search of some last strand of hope. None came. He held onto Brynne's hand for another hour, wanting to keep some part of her close to him. Finally he realized that it was time to go. But before turning to leave he looked down at the girl in front of him.

Brynne lay, hands over her chest, blonde hair rippling over her pillow. She looked as if she were merely sleeping. Her lips seemed to curl naturally into a small smile. James felt a lump rise in his throat and before he knew what he was doing, he bent down and gave Brynne a light peck on the lips. He was about to turn away when he heard a noise. He looked down at Brynne's body to see her stir. She was alive! James called out to Madame Clearwater and rushed to her bedside. Brynne's eyes fluttered open. She looked at him strangely.

"Where am I?" she asked groggily, "What happened?" she looked around at her surroundings and a puzzled look entered her eyes.

"Why am I in the hospital wing?" she asked, confused.

"You were attacked Brynne, you nearly..." James choked on the end of the sentence. "You nearly died." he managed to get out, fighting back tears as he took in the girl in front of him. He had nearly lost her. It seemed to him as if she was made more precious by this fact.

"Who attacked me?" asked Brynne. "The last thing I remember is being mad at you and leaving the Three Broomsticks. After that it's just a blur of pain and then it just goes blank." James looked at her in dismay.

"You don't remember the attack, do you? You don't know who attacked you?" it had been his last hope at getting back at the bastards who had done this to her. Brynne shook her head.

"No. Not a thing. Do you know who did it?"

"None of us do," James admitted. "Whoever it was they were careful not to let their identities be known."

"Oh," was all Brynne said. She looked at him strangely and then, without warning, began to hug him, crying into his shoulder.

"It was you who brought me back James," she cried, "I just know it was you." she cried. James just sat there and hugged her frail form, dumbstruck, until the nurse came and, after recovering from the shock of seeing a supposedly dead girl crying into James' arms, shooed him away, telling him he needed his sleep. James left, numb to the world around him. He headed swiftly up to his dorm, ignoring the anxious inquiries of how Brynne was doing before climbing into bed and staring blankly at the ceiling. He spent the entire night waiting for sleep to claim him and end the numbness, it never did. Instead, when it was dawn he climbed out of bed and got ready to face the world, numbness still enveloping his being.

**_Hope you liked it. And...Review! Please please pretty please! _**


	4. Not a chapter

_**Okay I really hate to do this to you all but it would appear that out of the 100 and something hits I have gotten I've only received four reviews. That's it. FOUR!!!!!! So...here's the deal. I won't post another chapter until I get at least ten reviews. I've got four which means I only need six more. That's not too hard now is it? So review please, or it will appear that this story has reached it's final stage. A shame because I have plans for these characters. EVIL plans, and some that will make you want to dance around the room singing to your favorite pop song. Unless of course you hate pop which in that case feel free to substitute it with a different genre of music. Have fun reviewing. Remember...six more! And then the fourth chapter.**_


	5. AgainNot a Chapter

_**Once again I would like to remind you (even though i really shouldn't have to) about my request for ten reviews. I now have seven. Which means only three more and then i will be once again able to update. So...WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET YOU PEOPLE TO UPDATE!!???!!!! I mean really!? 247 people have read this story and only seven feel it is good enough to review? It makes me think that maybe i should just give up now. Sigh. So...PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! Even if you hate it just tell me that in a review and i will be happy. Well maybe not happy but it will be an improvement. To me the highest compliment i can get on my writing is someone caring enough about what i wrote to give me their opinion. So...once again...REVIEW!!!! I'll be watching...  
**_


	6. Chapter 4

_**This is it my dear readers! The moment you've been waiting far too long for! Thank you so much for all the reviews! You truly ar**_**e _beautiful people! I got thirteen reviews this time! Now i know it's been a few days since we hit the ten reviews milestone, but remember...I am at boarding school...which is a lot like college in the sense that i have teachers that do not care how much homework you already have to do, laundry that absolutely refuses to do itself...one really bitchy roommate...and a social life that kind of disappears if you don't leave your dorm every once in a while. :) But never fret because I have not forgotten all of you wonderful wonderful readers! Enjoy!_**

**_P.S. Morgan, you come up in one of the next three chapters I promise!_**

**_P.S.S. I do not own Harry Potter, I am just hopelessly in love with him. J.K. Rowling is the one who owns him and I simply MUST remember to email her asking for permission to marry him. JK ;)_**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Green Eyes, Witnesses, and Monsters**

Brynne was not allowed to leave the hospital wing. She had a huge row with Madame Clearwater because she insisted that she was well enough to go back to her dorm, but in the end she was forced to remain where she was. She was not allowed to have any visitors either because Madame Clearwater said that it would cause stress when what she needed now was rest. Brynne suspected that she had come to this conclusion after the row as punishment for Brynne questioning her orders. The only people who had been allowed to see Brynne had been her family, who spent an hour fussing over Brynne before Madame Clearwater took pity and shooed them away, and Professor McGonagall, who incidentally, brought James' father with her.

Brynne knew very well who James' father was. She had visited the Potter's household frequently growing up and had heard the stories countless times. Her own father had been Quidditch Captain when Harry Potter played for the Gryffindor House Team. To this day Oliver Wood still maintained that Harry Potter was the best seeker Gryffindor had ever had. It was really no surprise when he came to visit her. What confused Brynne was why _he _was allowed to visit her when his _son_ wasn't?

"Brynne, I have a few questions I would like to ask you," explained Mr. Potter. It was then that Brynne understood. James' dad was the Head of the Aurors Department in the Ministry of Magic, of course he was allowed to visit her. No doubt there was some major investigation going into what had happened to her. Students did not get attacked every day after all.

"If you're going to ask me what happened then don't bother," she told him flatly. "I can't remember a thing. James could probably tell you more about it than I could. The last thing I can remember is stepping out of the Three Broomsticks and then...pain." She gave him an apologetic look and Harry couldn't help but notice that her eyes were currently as green as his own.

"Are you sure that you can't remember anything?" he persisted.

"Positive," she answered. "You can ask James if you like. I'm sure he's dying to get involved. He hates feeling helpless." Harry nodded. He knew only to well his son's need to feel useful.

"I will but first I have a few more questions for you," he assured her, "Do you know anyone that would want to hurt you?" he asked. Brynne shook her head.

"No one that would go to these measures. A petty prank is one thing, but I don't think anyone I know hates me enough to want me dead," she explained calmly.

"Does the word "wolves" mean anything to you?" he asked. Brynne puzzled over this for a second.

"No," she said slowly, "I can only connect that to one thing and that's the animal itself. But I doubt wolves did this to me sir." Harry chuckled.

"I quite agree Brynne," he said in amusement, "Well I won't bother you any longer Brynne," and with that he stood to leave.

"Oh and I like what you've done with your eyes, I don't think I've ever seen them that color before. It suits you," and with that he was gone, leaving Brynne to wonder what he meant. She wasn't metamorphosing. Brynne grabbed a mirror from the side table and looked at her reflection. Staring back at her was a pair of pale green eyes. She tried hard but the only way she could get them to change was in shape and shade of green. Realization hit her with a bang and she passed out, the mirror slipping from her hand and falling onto the floor with the tinkling of broken glass.

* * *

Harry Potter was very good at what he did. He had caught every one of the villains he had gone after so far. But even he had to admit defeat with this case. He had questioned every single person that was even remotely close to the incident when it had occurred and yet he could find no witnesses. It was astonishing, and virtually impossible that there could be no witnesses to an attack on a Hogwarts student in broad daylight on a usually crowded street. But that was the way it was. Absolutely no one had seen what had happened.

But Mr. Potter was wrong. There had been witnesses. Two actually. And one of them knew a lot more than he was willing to say.

* * *

Scorpius and Vera had been walking around, trying to find a decent place to eat at Hogsmeade. (They were both sick of the Three Broomsticks.) They were just about to head back when they heard a noise coming from an alleyway. Deciding to investigate, the two teenagers tiptoed toward the corner of the alleyway and peered out. Their stood a man in a cloak pacing anxiously, as if waiting for someone. Scorpius motioned silently for Vera to keep quiet and pulled her into the shadow of a trashcan. The two of them crouched silently and waited for something to happen.

Suddenly fast approaching footsteps could be heard from the street they had come from. Another figure soon emerged. This one was taller, but hunched over. His eyes, which were about the only thing they caught a glimpse of, were a golden yellow. There was something weird and almost savage about them. It sent shivers down Vera's spine.

"About time," rasped the shorter man as he caught sight of the other man's approach. "I was beginning to think you'd failed." A faint growl seemed to emanate from the second man at this.

"Of course not, the girl just took a little longer to track down then I thought," he replied.

"Well where is she Greyback?" growled the first.

"Watch your tone Romulus I'm in charge here, remember?" the man named Greyback warned. Romulus snorted.

"Just answer the question."

"She's in the Three Broomsticks. She'll be coming out any minute now. It's just a matter of catching her when she does. And then the prophecy will be ended."

"It'd better," growled Romulus, "We can't afford to let it ruin our plans!"

"It won't!" assured Greyback.

"You're sure she is the girl from the prophecy?"

"Positive," barked Greyback impatiently. Romulus growled in anticipation.

"Then she dies tonight," he declared. Scorpius and Vera looked at each other with fear and confusion. Who was this mysterious girl and why did these people want to kill her? Just then they saw Brynne storming out of the Three Broomsticks, her hair a current blaze of red and her eyes practically glowing green.

"There she is!" cried Greyback, "Summon the others and lets attack!" Suddenly more figures in dark cloaks stood behind the two men. They moved swiftly, as if the anticipation of what was about to happen was too great for them to go slow. They quickly encircled Brynne, trapping her where she was.

"No!" screamed Vera, but she was silenced by Malfoy, who had put a hand over her mouth.

"Do you want them to get us, too?" he demanded. Vera looked at him with wide, scared eyes.

"They're going to kill her Scorpius! We have to _do _something!" she whispered harshly. She fought to get free of his grasp but he was too strong for her. They were forced to watch in silence as Greyback and the others tortured her. Casting curse after curse in her direction. But Brynne did not cry out. She writhed in agony again and again but she did not let one scream escape her lips.

"Scream you little witch," growled Greyback, he was clearly enjoying her pain, and being the cause of it. "Crucio!" Brynne must have been weakened, or else she was still recovering from the last curse, either way her resolve was shattered and a piercing scream cut through the air like a knife. It was unearthly, and it brought tears to Vera's eyes.

"Someone will have heard that Greyback, we can't afford to put it off any longer," cried Romulus, "Let's just finish her and be done with it!" His companion looked him in the eyes and nodded.

"Very well," he agreed reluctantly. And with that he raised his wand to perform the curse that would finish Brynne, "Sectumsempra!" he shouted, and blood was gushing out of several wounds that had just appeared on Brynne's now limp body. Blood as red as wine flowed onto the pavement and the two men pointed their wand at the substance until Brynne's blood began to form writing. Neither Scorpius nor Vera could read what it said.

A shout sounded from a little ways off, and the men all disapparated on the spot. Suddenly. James was there, calling for help. Chaos was all around them and in that chaos Scorpius and Vera slipped away without being seen.

As soon as they were away from the crowd and in a deserted area Vera ran behind some trees and Scorpius could hear the sound of her heaving up all that she had eaten that day. He himself felt as if he might loose his lunch. Malfoy sat down on the ground and put his head down between his knees, trying not to think about what he had just seen., but images kept running through his brain again and again until he would have been grateful if he had just passed out from it all.

Vera recovered quickly and came out from behind the trees with an angry look. Scorpius stood up and waited for her to reach him, as soon as she did she slapped him.

"Why did you keep me away? We could've done something! We could've helped her!" demanded Vera furiously. Malfoy tried to calm her down.

"Vera the only thing we would've done would be getting ourselves killed!" he protested, "We don't know nearly enough defensive magic to be able to stand up to those guys!"

"We should've stopped it!" she cried, "I know we could've! There must've been something we could do!"

"Vera stop trying to be the hero here! You're not your dad! You couldn't possibly have survived in a fight against those men!" Vera looked as if she had been slapped. Her face turned cold and stony.

"Fine, let's just head back okay?" she suggested in a flat voice, so different from the one she had been using only moments ago.

"Fine," he agreed. They walked in silence back to the castle, and then to the common room. Vera went straight up to the girl's dormitory without another word, and Scorpius collapsed on one of the couches, sighing heavily. He could hear muffled sobs coming from the direction of Vera's room, though whether they were from seeing her ex-best friend get tortured and probably killed before her eyes or what he had said he couldn't be sure. He felt bad about what he had said to her earlier, but what else could he have done? Especially knowing what he had known?

Scorpius had known who these men were the minute Romulus had said Greyback's name. His father had told him all sorts of stories about the Death Eaters and the War, what it was like fighting on the dark side. One of those stories had been about a man named Greyback.

* * *

Flashback

"_Now Greyback, he was the worst of the worst, a real monster if ever I saw one," _ His father had explained one night. _"He was a werewolf, and one of the most feared Death Eaters known to the Wizarding community."_

_"Why were people so scared of him?" _ asked Scorpius, curious as to what type of man theis Greyback must've been to invoke such fear into the hearts of others.

"_Well, Greyback was not like most werewolves," _explained his father, "_Most werewolves, when a full moon strikes, they can't control what they do when they're in their forms, but Greyback, he would position himself so that when there was a full moon; he was guaranteed to run into his prey. He was Voldemort's best card in threatening witches and wizards into doing what he wanted. Nobody wanted their child to be the next one bitten you see," _Scorpius had turned white at this time.

_"That's horrible,"_ he had said. His father had nodded, a saddened look upon his face.

"_It was. But that wasn't the worst of it. No not at all. You see, after awhile, Greyback began to develop an insatiable hunger for human flesh, even when he wasn't transformed. He began to attack without the help of a full moon. Any humanity there was in that man vanished long ago. He is truly a monster now."_

End Flashback

* * *

Scorpius could remember that conversation very well. The story had always haunted him. A man so far gone from humanity that he had developed a taste for human flesh. It was horrifying, and what was worse was that Greyback had been especially affiliated with the Malfoys, his own family. It was common knowledge that his grandfather had sent Greyback on many a mission, usually one that benefited the entire Malfoy family. Too many people had lost their children because of his grandfather and that horrible man.

But Greyback was supposed to be dead. His father had said that, although they had never found the body, rumors of attacks orchestrated by Greyback had vanished, and not one word had been heard from the monster in twenty-three years. Not since the night the war had ended. Apparently, he was not as dead as people had been lead to believe.

Scorpius knew that he should tell someone about this. But what if they suspected his family? After the war, his family had been granted amnesty after his grandmother had protected the famous Harry Potter from Voldemort. But they still were on shaky ground with the Ministry. They were possibly the most despised family in all of the Wizarding community. The Ministry would love to have even the slightest excuse to arrest his entire family, with the exception of him and his mother, who had remained uninvolved with the war during its entirety. It was only too well known the connection between Greyback and the Malfoy family. If even one person suspected his family of having some connection in all of this they would be arrested on the spot. He could not do that to them, especially when he knew that they were innocent.

Both his father, and his grandparents had sworn off Dark Magic years ago. Although his grandfather still thought that purebloods were superior to the Muggle-borns and the Half-bloods, he no longer felt the need to wipe them off the face of the earth. And his own parents had turned distinctly pro-muggle around fifteen years ago, around the time he had been born. It helped that his grandmother on his mother's side was muggle-born.

No, he couldn't tell anyone what he had witnessed. The safety of his entire family relied upon it. Somehow he would have to convince Vera not to tell anyone. That was, if he could even get her to speak to him. He doubted it. He knew that she looked up to her father. It was her dream to be just as heroic as he was. How she had not ended up in Gryffindor had always been a mystery to him. What he had said to her earlier had been below the belt. And what was worse was that he had known it as he was saying it. Yes, keeping Vera quiet would be an issue. But surely she wasn't mad enough at him to condemn his entire family?

Scorpius decided to give up these thoughts for the night and went up to his dormitory where he crawled into bed and tried to sleep. His last thought before finally drifting off into a restless sleep was of this mysterious new prophecy, and why Greyback was so determined to stop it from coming true. And what did Brynne have to do with the prophecy? He fell asleep before he could think too much on these thoughts, but his dreams were haunted by the screams of bitten children, and the cold yellow eyes of a man who was worse than a monster.

* * *

_**Ho**_**w _was that? Huh? huh? Was it good? Tell you what...you can let me know in a...yep you guessed it...REVIEW! Since the no writing threat seemed to work well last time I think that we shall try it again... I need at least ten more reviews before I consider posting the next chapter. More would be great, and if i get fourteen I might consider putting in a little romantic action between a few of the characters (i won't tell you who!) Just think about it K? Love you all for reading this even if you do completely hate it. Mwah!_**

**_REVIEW!  
_**


	7. Chapter 5

_No, he couldn't tell anyone what he had witnessed. The safety of his entire family relied upon it. Somehow he would have to convince Vera not to tell anyone. That was, if he could even get her to speak to him. He doubted it. He knew that she looked up to her father. It was her dream to be just as heroic as he was. How she had not ended up in Gryffindor had always been a mystery to him. What he had said to her earlier had been below the belt. And what was worse was that he had known it as he was saying it. Yes, keeping Vera quiet would be an issue. But surely she wasn't mad enough at him to condemn his entire family?_

_Scorpius decided to give up these thoughts for the night and went up to his dormitory where he crawled into bed and tried to sleep. His last thought before finally drifting off into a restless sleep was of this mysterious new prophecy, and why Greyback was so determined to stop it from coming true. And what did Brynne have to do with the prophecy? He fell asleep before he could think too much on these thoughts, but his dreams were haunted by the screams of bitten children, and the cold yellow eyes of a man who was worse than a monster._

* * *

**Hey! I am soooooo sorry about the delay. Yes I do realize that you all reviewed awhile ago. And I got some fantastic reviews for the last chapter! It's amazing! I love it when you all give me reviews. Anyway I've been recovering from strep throat and dealing with exams and of course coming home for THE HOLIDAYS! So I've been pretty busy. I know, I know that's no excuse. Please forgive me! I hope this chapter makes up for my tardiness. Thank you sooooo much for your reviews last time! Okay here it is...READ!**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, all characters with the exception of Brynne and Vera are hers and I can only hope to one day acquire her level of awesomeness.  
**

Brynne was finally released from the hospital wing a week after the attack. But she did not go to Gryffindor tower. She was not ready for the questions, the speculation, the crowds of people waiting to know what had really happened; waiting for answers she could not give them. Instead she went to the only place she knew she would be safe. The library. She had disguised herself as a young girl with long black hair and pale skin. Her eyes remained green, but she had managed to change them to a lighter shade. They were now a pale green that reminded her of cucumbers. Not her favorite color in the world.

Brynne hurried to her favorite corner of the library and hurriedly picked up a book on the war. She quickly immersed herself in the story of James' family and her own family. She read of the many years of terror and war. Of atrocities committed by Voldemort and his followers. A familiar deep rage filled her as she read more. How she wished she'd been born during that time. Her fingers itched to be able to fight, to make a difference, to help. She wished it had been her who had killed Voldemort. She wished she could've made a difference in the struggle of good and evil.

With a frustrated sigh she put the book aside. Her hair was an angry tomato red now and she needed to change it back before anyone realized who she was. It frustrated her how easy it was for her to loose control of her metamorphosing. Her emotions were too often manifested in her ever changing appearance. Once more her hair turned to to the dark curls she'd had it in before. She set aside the book on the war and began to skim the shelves for something else to keep her mind off her problems. She was beginning to consider settling for a book on famous Quidditch matches when she noticed it. The book was bound in a deep midnight blue leather and it had gold letters spelling out the title in spindly writing that looked vaguely familiar.

"_Prophecies of Today"_ Brynne read aloud. Her interest was caught and she hurriedly pulled the book from its shelf. She rifled through the pages, casting surreptitious glances around her to make sure no one was looking. Then she found what she was looking for.

"When darkness comes to take the day the wolves of night descend..." she whispered. She marked the page carefully and began to read it more closely, trying to uncover some hidden meaning she had not picked up before. She was so engrossed in the book that she did not realize that she was no longer the only one in the library until Rose and Albus began to argue.

"I'm sure something's up with him Al!" insisted Rose. "He's barely said a word since Brynne's attack. He never eats and he ignores me every time I try to get him to open up!"

"He's just in shock Rose. We all are. None of us ever expected anything like this to happen. Nothing even remotely close to it has occurred since the war. And Brynne's one of his closest friends."

"She's my best friend Al and you don't see me attempting to fade away like he's doing. It's like he's trying to avoid drawing attention to himself which is not like James. It's scaring me Al!." Brynne perked her head up at the mention of James. What was going on? James was acting weird?

"He'll be fine as soon as Brynne's out of the Hospital Wing and he's sure that she's safe. He's just really freaked right now. He was there when Madame Clearwater said that she was dead remember? How do you think he felt when that happened? He must have been out of his mind with relief when she started breathing again."

Brynne was shocked. She had died? They'd failed to mention that part. Would it kill them to let a person know they'd been dead for a few minutes? After all, she had a right to know when she made a miraculous return to the land of the living.

"But it's not _normal _Al! It's like he's sunk into some sort of depression or something. It's scaring me. He's your brother. Do something about it!"

"What do you expect me to do?" demanded Albus, "Even in the best of moods James has never listened to me. I'm the younger brother remember? And he's James for crying out loud. Stubborn pig-headed James! He hardly ever even listens to Brynne. And that's only when she's got a really good argument or she's crying."

"There has to be something we can do! We can't let this go on forever!"

"It won't Rose. He's James. He'll push through this. Just like he always does. You know that as well a I do. Now stop worrying. You're beginning to sound like our parents." Brynne heard Rose growl in indignation at this.

"Take that back Albus Potter before I shove my wand up your arse!" she threatened. Albus ran out of the library hurriedly with a shrieking Rose on his tail. Brynne was left to think over what she had just heard. James was acting strange. And it seemed fairly logical to assume that his reason for this was her recent near-death experience. She needed to find him and make sure it was okay. And she had a fairly good idea where he would be. It was the same place he always went when he wanted to be alone.

Grabbing the book and placing it in her bag she hopped up off the floor and ran to grab her broomstick. She was off to find James.

* * *

Brynne flew around a few times in the air until she caught sight of a lone figure standing at the exact place she had expected James to be. Quickly she dove down and landed beside her friend, who was kneeling in front of the white marble tomb that held the remains of Hogwarts' greatest headmaster. Albus Dumbledore. Brynne sighed softly.

"Why do you always come here whenever you want to be alone? Eventually someone beside me is going to figure it out and then we're going to have a real problem," she teased lightly. James looked up, startled out of whatever reverie he'd been in before.

"Brynne?" he asked, confused. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"No James, it's Dumbledore returned to ask you why the hell you can't leave his tomb in peace an let him get some rest." she snapped sarcastically. "Of course its me dimwit!" James looked at her as if only just seeing her and shrugged. Then he turned back to look at the tomb once more.

"I like it here Brynne. Its peaceful. Nothing changes. It feels safe." he explained. Brynne sighed.

"James that's not life. That's some fantasy world you insist on putting yourself in. I get why you do it. I do it, too. But recent experiences have taught me that it's no good. Daydreams only take you so far before reality catches up and you're left right back where you started."

"And where's that exactly?" asked James, curious.

"Scared and helpless," Brynne stated grimly. "That's what dreams give you James.

"Those aren't dreams, Brynne," he protested. "They're nightmares. Dreams make it possible to push through those nightmares." Brynne frowned at this.

"No they don't James," she whispered, "They just make it harder to accept the truth." she said.

"Is there a reason you're so cynical today?"

"Having had two near death experiences in the past week kind of makes you that way," joked Brynne. James' jaw tightened.

"Is there a reason you're hiding out here?" she demanded.

"I'm not hiding from anything."

""Really James? Because from what I just heard from Rose and Al in the library a few moments ago you've been pretty out of it lately. Not laughing, or eating, or pulling pranks, or talking hardly. That doesn't sound like the James Potter I know."

"Yeah well the James Potter you knew wouldn't stand by and watch his best friend nearly die without doing anything to stop it," said James coldly.

"Is that what this is about? Me _almost_ dying?" demanded Brynne. "Because in case you haven't noticed James Potter, I'm not dead."

"But you were!" yelled James in agony, tearing at his hair. "Don't you get it Brynne? You _were _dead! Your heart stopped beating. Madame C said you were gone. And all I could think was that I never got your forgiveness. That you had died hating me! All I could think was 'what the hell am I supposed to do without her?'. You _were_ dead Brynne. And I was completely helpless to save you!"

"But I didn't die James! I'm right here! Living and breathing and talking to you right now! I'm alive James. So stop beating yourself up! It's completely idiotic to grieve for a friend that you never lost! Why are you the only on who can't let it go and be happy that I'm back?! Why can't you be content that I _am_ safe and I _am _alive?" demanded Brynne, who was getting frustrated. James looked at her closely.

"But what if it happens again?"

SMACK! Brynne's hand connected hard with James' cheek. James jerked back in surprise and shock.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" he demanded angrily.

"James Sirius Potter!" growled Brynne in frustration and anger, "Will you _stop_ worrying about what _might _have happened and get your overly large head out of your bloody arse before I completely loose it!" James looked at her, nervous around an angry Brynne.

"I'm not allowed to worry about you?" he asked, confused.

"NO! It's depressing dammit so stop!" she yelled, stomping her foot in frustration. James' shoulders slumped.

"Fine," he muttered, "But if you get yourself killed, so help me Brynne, I _will _find away to bring you back to life so that I can murder you myself for your stupidity," he warned. Brynne smiled wryly.

"Now that's the James I know," she said smugly. He grumbled a little at this but silenced himself after a glare shot in his direction. They were quiet for awhile, enjoying each others company. Brynne noticed James casting surreptitious glances in her direction, as if trying to reassure himself that she was still there. Finally she got tired of it.

"James, why do you keep looking at me like that?" she demanded in annoyance. James stared at her curiously.

"Why do you look like a girl version of my dad?" he answered her with another question. Brynne opened her mouth in astonishment.

"I do _not_ look like your dad James. Have you gone mad?" she demanded.

"No really. You look exactly like him, only with longer hair and...well...you know..." James trailed off, turning a deep red.

"What?" asked Brynne, confused.

"Well you've got...well...you know a..." James' face was now purple, "A chest and all." Brynne stared at him blankly for a second and then burst into laughter. James' face got even redder, if that was at all possible.

"It's not funny," he grumbled under his breath. Brynne just laughed harder.

"Yes James, as a girl I do have a 'chest' as you so aptly worded it." Brynne said, still giggling. "And I suppose I may look a little like your dad. But hey give me a break. I'm not used to attempting full on disguises." James laughed a little through his embarrassment.

"Yeah well I think its time for you to get some originality Brynne. Seeing family members everywhere I go is really going to start freaking me out." Brynne pouted a little but shrugged.

"Yeah whatever. Let's go see what the others are up to. I think you've let Rose suffer long enough. And if she worries any more I'm afraid she'll turn into her mum." James' eyes widened.

"Surely not!" he cried in horror, "The last thing this world needs is another Aunt Hermione walking around!" Brynne looked at James in confusion.

"I thought you liked your aunt," she said.

"I do, but the woman is way too overprotective. Uncle Ron is always telling her she needs to loosen up." Brynne rolled her eyes.

"C'mon," she told him, "Let's go prevent the next Hermione Granger," and they ran back to the castle, Brynne carrying her broom under one arm. They were almost at the castle when James stopped her short, grabbing her arm to hold her there.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" he asked quietly, shuffling his feet nervously.

"For what?" asked Brynne, confused. James seemed taken off guard by her response.

"Well...for not telling you about the Marauders," he explained carefully, he braced himself for the anger that was sure to come when Brynne remembered why she had been angry with him in the first place. Instead she had a thoughtful look on her face. Her hair had gone to a bright turquoise and her eyes were a green that almost matched. She smiled mischievously.

I'll forgive you," she began slyly, "on one condition." James smiled gratefully.

"Just name it and its yours," he told her. She smiled evilly.

"I'll forgive you so long as you make me one of the Marauders," she explained. James blanched at this.

"What?! No way!" he denied forcefully. Brynne pouted and sighed.

"Fine," she said sadly, "I guess I can't forgive you then." She began to walk away, head down. She smiled with her back to James, waiting for the reaction she was sure was coming.

"Wait!" cried out James, like clockwork. "Maybe I can convince Fred and Roxi to let you in. But you do realize that you'll have to prove yourself right? And it's not going to be something like sneaking out after hours, it'll be an actual prank?" he was trying to warn her. Brynne wasn't listening. She was too busy celebrating.

"Yay! Oh thank you James! I promise you won't regret it! Now come on, let's go get lunch!" James groaned in protest of her exuberance but allowed himself to be dragged towards the Great Hall by Brynne, who was singing all the while.

* * *

Brynne and James entered the Great Hall to find Albus, Rose, and the twins sitting solemnly at the Gryffindor lunch table, refusing to talk to any of their fellow Gryffindors about the whereabouts of Brynne and James, who had not appeared in class that day, or the past week. Brynne strode over and took a seat next to Rose, while James took the seat next to her.

"Hello all!" greeted Brynne cheerfully. It took a moment for her presence at their table to register before Brynne was ambushed by four squealing (or in Fred and Albus' case, shouts of joy) Gryffindors. Brynne struggled to breathe under the mass of students now attempting to smother her.

"Can't breathe!" she gasped. The others backed off sheepishly as Brynne took in deep breaths of air. She mock glared at them as she rubbed her throat.

"I realize you guys missed me and all, but I was only gone a week," she stated coolly. Fred and Roxi both grinned at her without repentance while Rose, who was trying to keep from crying in relief, hugged her again.

"It's great to have you back Brynne," said Albus, smiling.

"Yeah no kidding," laughed Brynne, "You guys wouldn't believe how boring the hospital wing can be. I was so glad to get out of it this morning." Rose released Brynne from her hug only to glare at her.

"You got out this _morning _and you didn't tell us?!" she shouted in fury. "What the hell is wrong with you!? We were worried sick!" Brynne blushed.

"Give her a break Rose," yawned Fred, who was getting bored with the yelling. "Let's just enjoy lunch. I don't know about you but I'm starved." And with that he reached for some chicken and began to scarf it down. Rose wrinkled her nose delicately.

"Well don't choke," she said sarcastically. Fred mumbled something incomprehensible around the huge bite of food in his mouth. They all looked at him in confusion. He swallowed and then repeated himself.

"I said stop sounding like your mum Rose, you'll give yourself gray hairs." He winked at the rest and then disappeared before Rose had time to get angry. She rushed after him screaming curses all the while. They appeared some time later with Fred nursing a few angry red welts and some scratches on his face that had not been there before. Rose looked pleased with herself. She sat down and began to eat her food with relish. They were about to leave when an owl appeared before them. Albus reached for it and began to read aloud from it.

"_Your next detentions will take place tomorrow night at eight o' clock. Do not be late._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Hermione Weasley"_

They all groaned in despair at this.

"And here I was hoping we could get in our first team practice of the year now that Brynne's back," muttered James.

"Looks like you'll have to schedule practice for Sunday James," said Brynne dryly. She had hoped to be able to get in a few good hours of studying Saturday night. She had missed too much school for her taste and it would have been a relief to get some homework out of the way.

"Good idea Brynne. I'll just schedule practice for Sunday morning at seven!" exclaimed James, as if he had just had an epiphany. Fred, Roxi, Rose, and Brynne, who were all on the Quidditch team with James, groaned in unison.

"For once couldn't you have kept your mouth shut Brynne?" muttered Roxi darkly.

"How the bloody hell was I supposed to know he'd schedule practice that early in the effing morning? It's inhuman for _anyone _to even _want _to get up that early on a weekend!" growled Brynne defensively. Her hair had turned a bright tomato red. Albus, sensing an explosion heading their way quickly moved to calm her down.

"Cool it Brynne, they know it's not your fault. James is just plain weird." They all laughed at this.

"You got that right," agreed Rose.

"Here, here!" toasted Fred in approval, holding up his glass of pumpkin juice. They all raised their glasses to James' weirdness before Brynne excused herself in favor of the library. She asked if anyone wanted to come with her, to Rose and the twins' disgust.

"Why the bloody hell would I want to go there?" demanded Rose, "the place reeks of intelligence and model students. It might rub off on me!"

"That would be a bad thing?" asked Albus, smiling. Rose shot him a glare. Brynne rolled her eyes and gathered her things. The others headed up to the common room. While passing the Slytherin table Rose glanced in the direction where Scorpius and Vera always sat. But instead of seeing the two of them as she had expected, she saw only Scorpius with his head in his hands, looking depressed. Vera was farther down the table, her eyes red and puffy. She looked like she hadn't slept well in about a week.

"What's with Scorpius and Vera?" Rose asked Albus. "They're not sitting together today and they both look absolutely miserable." Albus glanced in his friends' directions and frowned.

"No idea. Come to think of it, I haven't seen them together all week. Maybe they got in a row. Why do you ask?" he looked at his cousin suspiciously. It was not like her to take an interest in the two Slytherins, or any Slytherins for that matter. Rose shrugged.

"I'm just wondering that's all," she said a little too innocently. Albus smirked.

"Don't let my brother hear you're concerned about a couple of Slytherins, he might have you committed," he teased. Rose blushed slightly but then scowled.

"James needs to get over his silly prejudices," she declared heatedly, "I'm getting sick of hearing what evil bastards all Slytherins are." Albus grunted in agreement but said nothing more, contemplating his cousin's sudden interest in the well fare of Slytherins.

* * *

The next day the others hardly saw Brynne at all, as she spent most of the day in the library studying. It was only when it came time for their detentions when she finally emerged from her palace of paper and ink.

"It's about bloody time," grumbled Fred, "I was beginning to think that you were actually going to skip detention in favor of homework." he grimaced at the thought. Brynne scowled playfully at him.

"Don't tease," she said reproachfully, "It's not nice. And it wouldn't _kill_ you to pick up a book every now and again Fred." Fred glared at her.

"That's what _you _think," he muttered. Brynne rolled her eyes as they pushed into Professor Weasley's office. Hermione was waiting for them on the other side of the door, sitting patiently at her desk. Scorpius and Vera were, like before, already there. Scorpius smirked at Jame's face when he saw that they'd been beaten to detention by a couple of Slytherins.

"Good evening children," greeted Hermione briskly. "I trust you all are ready for your second detentions?" They all nodded. Hermione turned to Brynne. "How are you feeling Ms. Wood?" she asked Brynne kindly. Brynne smiled.

"Much better than I was Professor," she answered. Rose noticed Scorpius and Vera both flinch slightly at this exchange. Odd...

"Alright well today your pairings will go as followed," began Hermione, "Rose you and Ms. Wood will be assisting the house elves in the kitchen cutting vegetables for tomorrow's dinner. No magic please." she held out her hand for the two girls' wands and they handed them over reluctantly. They turned to leave without another word. Hermione turned back to the rest of the group.

"James, Roxi, the two of you will be sorting books in the Library. Again I must ask you not to use magic." Roxi and James both grimaced at the thought of spending any time in the library. They handed her their wands and slumped off towards their detention. Hermione continued.

"Fred, Ms. Longbottom, you will be serving your detentions out on the grounds raking leaves. You may go." The two barely concealed their grins at having managed such an easy task before they hurried off without handing in their wands. Albus and Scorpius were left wondering what their detention would hold for them.

"Albus, Mr. Malfoy, you two will be weeding the vegetable patch with Hagrid," Hermione said at last. Albus grinned triumphantly at the mention of Hagrid. Maybe this detention wouldn't be so bad after all. They hurried off to Hagrid's hut without another word, eager to have the night over with.

* * *

Rose hated cooking. She was rotten with it. She burned cereal for crying out loud! Why her mother had given her a job in the kitchens was beyond her. Maybe she was seeking to punish her some more by making her detentions increasingly unpleasant. Brynne on the other hand, was chopping away happily at some carrots and chatting cheerfully with a few of the house elves. Even Kreacher, the Potter's ancient house elf was enjoying her company. Kreacher usually stayed at the Potter Estate, but ever since James, whom he had developed a particular liking to, had started attending Hogwarts, Kreacher had asked to join the Hogwarts' staff during the school year, coming home with James and Albus during the holidays.

Rose sat on a small stool, watching Brynne enjoy herself while picking at her nails. The elves had brought her a mug of butterbeer, which she was enjoying immensely. Brynne looked back at Rose, smiling.

"Aren't you going to help Rose?" asked Brynne. She knew her friend had never particularly liked cooking, but it wasn't like they were attempting to make fillet mignon. They were only cutting vegetables! Rose smiled and shook her head.

"Nah," she declined cheerfully, "I think I'll just supervise on this one. Good work though." Brynne snorted and turned back to the cutting board. She was almost finished with the carrot she was cutting when the knife slipped in her hand, opening a deep gash in her hand. Brynne gasped in pain, swearing under her breath.

"What is it?" asked Rose, curious as to what could have Brynne swearing in such a good mood.

"Nothing," cried Brynne, her voice tight with pain. Blood was oozing out of the wound and she tried to stop the flow with a towel, "I just nicked myself that's all." Rose got up from where she was sitting and hurried to her friend's side.

"Here let me see," she suggested, taking hold of her friend's injured hand.

"It's nothing really just a little bit of blood," insisted Brynne. Rose removed the towel from Brynne's hand to reveal the gash. The towel, which was now soaked in blood, she held up to Brynne's face.

"That doesn't look like a little bit of blood Brynne. Let me help." Brynne nodded, to distracted by the pain to argue. Rose sat her down and asked one of the elves to bring her a clean rag, some hot water, and a few bandages. The elf nodded and turned to go when Rose remembered something her mother had mentioned a while ago.

"Oh and could you bring me some Essence of Dittany as well please?" The elf bowed low.

"Yes miss," agreed the elf, "Tilly will be glad to help miss in any way she can miss." And she hurried off to get the supplies Rose had mentioned. She came back shortly afterward and handed Rose her supplies.

"Thank you," muttered Rose absentmindedly, her mind now on the wound, which was deep from what she could see. And she couldn't see much with all the blood.

"Okay first thing's first, I need to clean the wound. This may hurt a bit." She began to dip the rag in the hot water and use it to clear away the blood. She tried to be as gentle as possible, but Brynne's small hisses of pain told her that she probably wasn't doing too good of a job at it. After the wound had cleaned she let a few drops of Dittany fall on the gash. Instantly the flesh sealed up, leaving a bright pink scar rather than an ugly gash that had been there before. She bandaged it anyway, unsure of whether or not the cut might reopen without some actual magical care. When she was finished the hand looked much less macabre and Brynne seemed to be in a lot less pain.

"Thanks," sighed Brynne gratefully, "That feels much better."

"I did what I could without a wand. You'll need real magic if you want to get rid of that scar though," said Rose briskly. Brynne smiled.

"You did amazing Rose, but I think I'll leave the scar there if its all the same. It has character." Rose rolled her eyes at this and then looked at her watch.

"Well our detention's over now so I guess we can go. Mind if I ask the elves for some food for the road? I'm starving." With that three elves came back carrying roast beef sandwiches and pumpkin pasties along with a pitcher of pumpkin juice. The girls took the food gratefully and left after saying goodbye, and promising to return soon. They continued walking down the hall before they ran into Scorpius and Albus, who were covered in dirt.

"What happened to you?" demanded Rose, holding back laughter. Albus grimaced.

"Gardening should be made illegal," he said simply. The two girls laughed.

"Hey, you guys I'm kind of tired. I think I'll take the food and head off to bed," said Brynne, "Don't worry Rose I'll save some for you," she added laughing. Rose pouted slightly.

"Yeah you better, you owe me you know. Quality first aid doesn't come cheap around here." Brynne rolled her eyes at this.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said dryly before heading off toward Gryffindor Tower. Albus looked at Rose in curiosity.

"What happened to Brynne's hand?" he asked. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Brynne forgot to pay attention to the knife and almost sliced her hand in half. Luckily, my excellent first aid skills were there to rescue her." Albus laughed at this, shaking his head in mock shame. Brynne was known for being a klutz. She was always running into things or injuring herself. It had become almost a sort of private joke among her friends.

"Figures," he muttered. "Well, I'm off to find some clean clothes. See you Rose." And with that he hurried off in the same direction as Brynne, leaving Rose and Scorpius standing alone in the hallway. Rose shuffled her feet awkwardly. She hadn't talked to Scorpius since that first detention. Which reminded her...

"So..." she began slowly, "You do realize that you owe me ten Galleons right?" Scorpius looked at her in confusion, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"I do?" he asked playfully, "And how do you figure that?" Rose shrugged coolly.

"Well I do seem to recall a bet about something horrible resulting from my mum's detentions, and Brynne and James got into a huge fight during theirs and Brynne had a major meltdown because of it, so I was right. Someone had a worse detention than we did.. You owe me ten Galleons." Scorpius laughed and reached into his pocket, shaking his head.

"Alright here you go," he said pleasantly, handing her ten Galleons. Rose clapped her hands in glee and quickly stashed them in her pocket.

"Yay! I'm rich!" she sang happily. Scorpius laughed. Slowly they sank back into awkwardness.

"So what's going on between you and Vera?" asked Rose, "She seemed kind of miffed at you when I saw you guys at lunch yesterday." Instantly Scorpius' smile disappeared.

"It's nothing," he muttered evasively, "I did something she didn't agree with that's all." Rose shrugged.

"Just tell her you're sorry then," she said simply, "Works for me all the time." Scorpius' mouth twisted into a half smile at this.

"It's not that simple. What I did...well...it almost got someone killed, and Vera's kind of mad at me for not doing anything about it." Rose instantly became serious.

"What happened?" she asked. "It can't have been that bad."

"It was," groaned Scorpius, head in his hands. "It was much worse actually."

"Tell me about it," suggested Rose.

"I can't," was all he said. Rose looked at him in confusion.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because you'd hate me if you knew what a coward I really was," he explained miserably.

"No I wouldn't," Rose assured him, "Whatever you did you didn't mean to do, and you obviously didn't like doing it otherwise you wouldn't be so miserable right now, so why would I hate you?" Scorpius shook his head. Suddenly Rose had a thought. Albus had said that Vera and Scorpius had stopped talking about a week ago, which was the time that Brynne had been attacked. Had Scorpius been involved in that?

"Scorpius were you...I mean did you...does this have something to do with whoever attacked Brynne?" she asked, worried about offending him. Scorpius just sighed heavily and stayed silent. Rose took that for a yes. A gasp tore through her throat.

"It was _you?_" she demanded, "_You _attacked Brynne? But why?" Scorpius looked at her in horror.

"NO! No of course I didn't! I wouldn't! No!" he denied in terror. "I would never do anything to hurt someone, whatever my family's past might be. I know you might not believe me but I swear Rose I did _not_ hurt Brynne!" Rose was confused.

"Then what does this have to do with Brynne?" she asked. Scorpius took a deep breath, preparing himself in order to tell her. He began the story slowly. Rose's eyes grew wide with horror as he described what had really happened to her best friend.

"So...you _really _know who did it?" she asked. Scorpius nodded miserably.

"Vera's furious because I held her back while Brynne was being attacked. She wanted to stop it. But then we'd probably have been killed. She thinks we should've done something more than hide and watch it all happen," he explained. Rose scowled.

"Well that's stupid," she said simply. "What good would it have done Brynne if the two of you had gotten yourselves killed trying to stop those guys? Then Brynne would still have almost died, only then we wouldn't have known who did it."

"I should've tried though," whispered Scorpius. Rose's eyes softened and she gently hugged Scorpius. He stiffened slightly at the close contact, but eventually he returned the hug, grateful that she didn't hate him. When Rose finally let go, Scorpius felt a hundred times lighter. Rose seemed to understand this.

"Weasley hugs," she explained ruefully, "My mum always says there's something magical about them; they make anyone feel better." Scorpius felt that he had to agree with Professor Weasley on this one. Rose's hugs were definitely magical. Rose grabbed his hand and began to tug him in a random direction.

"Where are we going?" asked Scorpius, curious.

"To go tell the others what you saw. Brynne has a right to know, and so do her friends," explained Rose. Scorpius froze.

"Rose...I can't. I'm not brave like your Gryffindors, I don't think I could face them. And Greyback's linked too closely to my family, the Malfoy's will be cast under suspicion, and we're just getting back some trust after the war. Rose turned to look at him and he found himself hypnotized by warm brown eyes.

"You can," she assured him, her voice full of faith and trust in him, which was something he had never experienced before, "I'll be with you the entire time, and if anyone even hints at your family being involved, I'll hex them into the next century." Scorpius smiled and followed her as she led the way to her family, and the truth.

* * *

**Soooooooo...How was it? REVIEW PLEASE! Ten more reviews and the story gets updated, 14 and I might put in some romance between Fred and a certain character who shall not be named. So all you Fred fans out there had better review otherwise poor Fred is going to be left in the dust. I loved all your reviews last time. How'd you like the new take on Rose and Scorpius? I felt like putting in a little more about characters other than Brynne and James. Those two get too much spotlight anyway. :) JK I love those two. But still...the others need their stories as well. So please review. Thank you all for reading. You are all wonderful people. Well...homework! Tah tah!**


	8. Chapter 6

_"Weasley hugs," she explained ruefully, "My mum always says there's something magical about them; they make anyone feel better." Scorpius felt that he had to agree with Professor Weasley on this one. Rose's hugs were definitely magical. Rose grabbed his hand and began to tug him in a random direction._

_"Where are we going?" asked Scorpius, curious._

_"To go tell the others what you saw. Brynne has a right to know, and so do her friends," explained Rose. Scorpius froze._

_"Rose...I can't. I'm not brave like your Gryffindors, I don't think I could face them. And Greyback's linked too closely to my family, the Malfoy's will be cast under suspicion, and we're just getting back some trust after the war. Rose turned to look at him and he found himself hypnotized by warm brown eyes._

_"You can," she assured him, her voice full of faith and trust in him, which was something he had never experienced before, "I'll be with you the entire time, and if anyone even hints at your family being involved, I'll hex them into the next century." Scorpius smiled and followed her as she led the way to her family, and the truth._

* * *

_**Hey...so nobody reviewed for this last chapter. Or hardly anyone anyway...so you are all very lucky that I have found it in my heart to update anyways. Well...actually it was because I got a review i really enjoyed from a person named freshmanvp. So that is why i have decided not to punish you all. But keep in mind that this is a one time thing and that next time i will expect ten reviews before updating. I'm sure it won't be too dificult. So anyway...a little more drama in here and a little more romance too. hope you like it...and please review. pretty please...?**_

Fred and Vera usually didn't talk much. They had grown up together and their families still saw each other frequently, but Fred hung out with James, and Vera didn't. It was as simple as that really. So during detention they both stood awkwardly, waiting for one of them to say something first. Fred, who had never been one for awkward silences anyways, finally spoke up.

"So are you planning on going to the Potter's annual Holiday party this year?" asked Fred. Vera shrugged.

"I don't think I really have a choice," she answered as she grabbed a rake and began to work on the leaves. "My dad is still best friends with your entire family and of course mum's best friends with Mrs. Potter. Me not going would be considered base treachery. Dad still dreams of me marrying a Potter and making our families joined." Fred nodded sympathetically.

"I think I can distract James and Brynne long enough for you to have some sort of fun, but it won't be for long mind you," offered Fred. Vera smiled up at Fred and he couldn't help but notice that her eyes were a very pretty blue.

"Thanks Fred," said Vera in surprise, "You know I never did understand why you and I had to stop talking." Fred shrugged.

"It might have something to do with you being mortal enemies with two of my best mates," he answered. Vera laughed.

"I beg to differ Weasley," she argued. "Two of your best mates are mortal enemies with _me_."

"Is there a difference?" asked Fred, confused.

"Of course," answered Vera, "I didn't choose the war between me and James or with me and Brynne, that was entirely their doing. James chose Gryffindor rivalries over friendship, and Brynne chose James over me."

"Did you expect her to do anything different?" questioned Fred, curious. Vera looked away in anger and pain.

"I was her best friend. We were practically sisters," said Vera in response.

"Yes, but..." began Fred.

"But she loves him, yeah I know." interrupted Vera, "And the thing is, I could understand that. I could even forgive her for it, but she refuses to even admit that she feels anything for the prat other than what a friend would feel." Fred saw all of the bitterness and hurt and loss unfold on Vera's face. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Tears were shining in her eyes.

"She misses you too you know," said Fred solemnly. "I think that it's her biggest regret. She cried for weeks after you guys stopped talking." Vera smiled.

"Thanks for trying," she whispered quietly. "Now what do you say we get these leaves cleared up?" And with that the conversation ceased and the two went back to work.

James and Roxi had just come in after a long two hours of sorting books. Brynne and Albus were sitting comfortably in the seats by the fire. James plopped down next to Brynne and Roxi collapsed into a seat.

"Have fun?" teased Brynne lightheartedly.

"No," groaned James.

"So...many...books..." replied Roxi numbly. Brynne laughed.

"Well I'm impressed. Your Aunt finally got you two into a library," she said. James glared up at her.

"Did you put her up to this?" he asked suspiciously. Brynne's eyes widened innocently.

"I am offended that you would even suggest that," she said, "But yes...yes I did."

"You're evil..." moaned Roxi, "But my head hurts too bad to be mad." James grunted in agreement. Albus gave Brynne a high-five and they all settled in. Suddenly Fred came in whistling.

"I take it you had a good time then?" asked Albus, holding back laughter as Fred all but danced in.

"Yes I did, thank you for asking," answered Fred cheerfully. "Where's Rose?"

"She's probably still talking to Scorpius," answered Brynne without looking up from her book. James shot up.

"WHAT!?" He demanded in shock and anger. "She's talking to that prat?!"

"Just because you hate him James doesn't mean everyone else has to," said Brynne coolly, "I happen to think that he's a very charming and polite individual. And I'm sure Rose does, too." James growled. Suddenly Rose came in looking nervous. James stood up at once.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, "You better not have been talking to that Slytherin this whole time." Rose looked at him in annoyance.

"That 'Slytherin' as you call him, has a name. And yes as a matter of fact I have. But that's not important now. What's important is that I figured out who attacked Brynne." They all stood up at that point. Brynne's face was white.

"Who?" she asked. Rose shot a guilty look in her direction.

"I can't tell you. But you have to trust me. I have someone waiting outside who can explain it all and you all just need to give him a chance to explain. It took a lot of courage for him to do this." She shot James an warning glance. Confused they all followed her out of the portrait hole. They were all shocked to see Scorpius Malfoy waiting for them. He stood there awkwardly and Rose went to go and stand beside him, shooting them all a look daring them to say anything.

"Now I realize that you don't always get along with Scorpius but I need you guys to trust me and hear him out. If any of you so much as touch a hair on his head so help me I _will_ hex you." They all stood silently. Rose was glaring at James, whose jaw was tight with anger and suspicion. But he wanted to know who had attacked Brynne, and he wasn't about to attack the only one who knew the answer to that. Not now anyway.

"None of us will hurt him Rose. I swear," said Brynne, and she went to go stand with Rose. Albus followed, then, after a pause, Fred joined suit. As he did so he couldn't help but think of Vera. Rose nodded in relief. She looked at Scorpius.

"Go on Scorpius, you can tell them." Scorpius took a shaky breath and began his tale. As he did so Brynne's face grew steadily white and at one time Rose had to support her in order to prevent her collapsing on the floor. Scorpius told of the prophecy they had mentioned and how he had held Vera back and how he had immediately recognized the name Greyback from the stories of a man worse than any monster his father used to tell. James' face was turning livid the more that Scorpius said. When Scorpius finished his story all was silent.

"So you stood by and watched this all happen?" asked James quietly. Scorpius looked ashamed.

"Yes, I'm sorry Brynne, I wanted to help and so did Vera, but these aren't schoolyard bullies we were dealing with here, these were ex-Death Eaters. Vera and I didn't stand a chance." Brynne nodded.

"It's alright Scorpius, you told us and that's all that matters now. I forgive you." Scorpius looked immensely relieved.

"Okay?" demanded James in disbelief, "No it sure as hell is not okay! Brynne almost died! And this slime-ball just stood back and watched it all happen!"

"James," whispered Albus, "They would've died."

"And what about Brynne? She only just survived Albus! Or had you forgotten!" shouted James. "She stopped breathing! I was there and she was dead, all because this coward values his own life above others!"

"He would've gotten himself and Vera killed, and the Greyback would've panicked and used Avada Kedavra and then I _really _would've been dead. Is that what you want James? Three people dead rather than none?" Brynne said in Scorpius' defense.

"He did NOTHING Brynne! He stood by and watched them try to MURDER you! Do you honestly expect me to feel happy about that?"

"He told us who did it! He warned us James!" cried Rose defiantly.

"I DON"T GIVE A DAMN WHAT HE DID TO MAKE UP FOR IT! HE'S NO BETTER THAN THOSE MUTTS!" shouted James.

"That's not true," said Scorpius furiously. He stepped forward past the wall of Gryffindors attempting to defend him. "I'm helping you. I'm on your side. And I'm here to warn you. Whatever that prophecy is that involves Brynne, Greyback and his friends clearly don't want it to happen. And when they here Brynne's still alive I _guarantee _you that they will come back to finish what they started. Brynne's not safe anymore. If I were you I'd be more worried about her and stop trying to blame everyone else in sight for what happened." he said. James' face turned purple.

"Are you threatening her?"

"No. I'm on your side remember?" said Scorpius. "I just thought I'd let you know." And with that he turned around and walked off. James' face turned livid and he drew his wand. He was about to curse Scorpius' retreating figure when a jet of red light hit him square in the back and he collapsed unconscious. Scorpius turned at the noise, saw what happened and smirked, then walked away. The others crowded around James. Rose was crying.

"I'm so sorry. But he was going to curse him and I couldn't let that happen. He was helping us, and it took so much courage for him to come out here tonight. I couldn't let that happen. I just couldn't," Rose babbled frantically. Brynne hugged her, trying to calm her down.

"It's alright Rose, you did the right thing. James was being a royal prat. I would've cursed him myself if you hadn't beaten me to it," she assured her friend. Rose sniffled. Fred pointed his wand at James.

"Ennervate," he said solemnly. James woke with a gasp. He stood up in confusion and looked around in surprise. He caught sight of Rose and his features turned black.

"James I am so sorry I..." James just shook his head.

"Traitor," he spat, "I want nothing to do with you. You're no longer family of mine." And he stalked off into the night. Rose just stared after him in shock. Tears ran silently down her face as she watched her cousin storm off. Without a word she turned and hurried off to her room; the others could hear her sobs as she disappeared. Brynne looked torn. Finally she headed up to comfort her friend. The others all decided that the best thing to do was go to bed. And so they did.

James did not talk to Rose for an entire month. They finished their detentions with him still refusing to talk to her. Rose cried constantly and tried as hard as she could to gain his forgiveness. Quidditch practice was torture because whenever James did break his stony silence towards Rose it was to yell at her. The others all tried with no success to get him to forgive her. Brynne went to bed each night with the words of the prophecy still echoing in her mind. The others had all tried desperately to figure out what the prophecy could be about, but Brynne wasn't sure that she wanted to share it with them. This was her burden to bear, not theirs.

Finally, after a month of her two best friends being miserable, Brynne decided to talk to James. She snuck into the guy's dorm and searched through their trunks until she found what looked like a packet of spare parchment. She tapped it with her wand and whispered the words she had heard a thousand times in the Potter's tales of the war.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," she whispered. Ink began to spread across the parchment and names appeared to be moving around the castle. Brynne searched for one name in particular. She found him sitting alone in an empty corridor. Brynne folded the map and hurried out of the dorm, on her way to talk to James.

James was sitting against the wall of the deserted corridor, remembering the first time he had really met Brynne. They had grown up knowing each other. She was Vera's best friend, and Rose was always talking about how she wished she could change her hair as easily as that Brynne Wood. But he had never really had a conversation with her before her first day at Hogwarts. He had been wandering the corridors at night and he had found her huddled against this wall crying. Her hair, which had been a bright purple that entire day, was now a pale blonde and her eyes were shining an electric blue. He knew right then that this what what she looked like when she wasn't changing her appearance. She looked so vulnerable and scared that he had stopped to see what was wrong.

_ "What's wrong Brynne?" _He had been proud of himself for remembering her name. She had looked up with wide eyes.

_"I was sleepwalking and I woke up here. I have no idea where I am or how to get back and Filch is sure to catch me and then I'll be expelled!" _she had explained in a small watery voice. James had felt bad for her and so he smiled down and ruffled her hair.

_"Cheer up Brynne. Tell you what, I'm on my way to the kitchens to grab a midnight snack. Why don't you come with me and afterwords I'll show you the way back." _She had nodded and from that day on they had become best friends. It was hard to believe that it had been five years ago that he had met his best friend.

"You know, this place looks different in the daytime. Now its not as scary," came a voice from above him. He opened his eyes to see Brynne's face hovering a few inches above his. She was crouching down so that they were eye level.

"Yeah I guess," he agreed quietly. Brynne stood up and he did, too.

"This is where we first met," Brynne stated simply.

"Yeah, I remember."

"You do?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" he asked. Brynne's thoughts seemed far away.

"I don't know. It just seemed so far away now. Things have changed so much."

"Not really," said James.

""You'd be surprised." was all Brynne said. "I mean that was back before I had a near-death experience every other day, and back when my biggest worries were getting back to the common room in time for curfew."

"You mean that's not your biggest worry?" teased James, but he could see that something was wrong. Brynne smiled.

"Let's just say my nightmares have changed a bit," she replied easily. James frowned.

"You still have nightmares?" he asked in concern. Back in third year, Brynne had started having horrible nightmares. Nightmares that she refused to tell anyone about, not even him. Brynne nodded. They were silent for a while.

"James, I want you to forgive Rose," Brynne said quietly. She was staring out a window, at some distant point James couldn't see.

"Why?" demanded James angrily. "She turned her back on family. She sided with the son of a man that tried to kill our parents a good number of times." Brynne shook her head.

"But she was right to do it. You were being irrational and who knows what you would've done that you would've later regretted."

"I wouldn't have regretted a single thing." said James obstinately.

"Yes you would've James. I know you," Brynne said.

"I won't forgive her Brynne."

"James, she's miserable. _You're _miserable! And don't tell me you're not." insisted Brynne. "I know you too well James."

"How can I forgive her when she betrayed me?" demanded James.

"How can you not? James at any moment we could all die! And you would die knowing that you had never forgiven your cousin, who also happens to be one of your best friends! James, listen! How do you think I felt when you guys told me about the map? I felt betrayed just like you. And I almost died without ever telling you guys that I forgave you. How did you feel when you thought I was dead? Dead and still mad at you? Do you want Rose to feel that way?" James was silent for a long while. Finally he looked up at her and smiled.

"You're right Brynne, I'll forgive Rose. Why don't we go find her? I think I have some apologizing to do." Brynne laughed in joy and triumph and, without thinking leaned up and kissed James on the cheek. They both stood there in shock. Brynne's hair automatically turned a rosy shade of pink and her entire face matched. James lifted his hand slowly to his cheek, as if he could still feel the kiss. Brynne came to her senses first.

"Um...we should...I mean to say...you should go find Rose now I guess," she stumbled over the words awkwardly and rushed off mumbling something about homework. She was almost around the corner when a voice in her head stopped her.

"_WAIT!" _cried a voice that was startlingly familiar. Brynne tripped in surprise and went sprawling onto the ground, her books spilling out of her bag. She hurriedly began to gather them up, ignoring the humiliation of yet another fall. A hand shot out and grabbed a book just as she was reaching for it.

"What's this book?" asked James. He was staring at the blue cover with gold letters written in curly yet familiar looking handwriting. It was the book on prophecies that Brynne had checked out of the library over a month ago. Brynne cursed inwardly and tried to snatch it out of his hands, but James was too quick.

"Prophecies of the Modern Day World?" he read in confusion. "Brynne, why are you reading up on prophecies?" Brynne snatched the book out of his hands and put it back in her bag.

"No reason," she answered vaguely. She began to walk away at a brisk pace. James, who had longer legs, kept pace with her easily. "Don't you need to find Rose?" she asked, annoyed.

"Not until you tell me why you are looking up prophecies," answered James. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"Poor Rose, she's never going to hear that apology now," she muttered under her breath. James stopped.

"Wait, does this have anything to do with the prophecy Malfoy mentioned?" he asked. Brynne ignored him. His face grew worried. "It is, isn't it? Have you found something? Brynne?"

"No James, I don't know anything about any prophecy now please just let it go!" snapped Brynne.

"You're lying to me," stated James simply. Brynne shook her head in denial.

"No I'm not James," she said, praying he would believe her.

"_Why don't you just tell him already?" _asked the familiar voice of Lily Evans Potter.

"_Get out of my head!" _ordered Brynne silently.

"_I'm helping you, and no I won't. You wanted a chance to make a difference? Well here it is. Now tell him!" _Brynne growled in frustration.

"_No!" _she answered silently.

_"So stubborn..."_sighed Lily wearily.

"Brynne? Why won't you tell me what you know?" asked James, his eyes were shining with hurt. "Don't you trust me?" Brynne felt horrible.

"Of course I trust you James! But this is my burden, not yours! I won't let you involve yourself in something like this."

"And why not? You're involved aren't you?"

"Yes, but I don't have a choice!" yelled Brynne in despair, "Don't you see? I never had a choice! But you do! And if I tell you I know you'll make the wrong one. The one I don't want you to make!"

"And what exactly is the wrong choice? Tell me that Brynne?" demanded James, impatient.

"Helping me. That's the wrong choice. Anyone who helps me is automatically in danger."

"From WHAT?!" shouted James in frustration. He paced back and forth in agitation as he tried to calm down enough to argue more.

"Brynne, what is there to be afraid of? I can't protect myself if I don't know."

"I can't tell you, and I won't," answered Brynne.

"_You're being a stubborn idiot you realize that don't you?" _asked Lily.

"_Stubborn idiot or no I _won't _be the one to ruin the rest of his life," _answered Brynne.

_"Did it ever cross your mind that maybe he doesn't see it that way? Maybe to him this would be something he would want to do."_

"_He can't know what he wants," _Brynne replied.

_"And you can?" _Brynne had no answer to that. Lily didn't feel the need to say more.

"Brynne, please, tell me," James insisted once more. Brynne felt her resolve weaken. Finally she decided that it wasn't worth the arguments that would occur if she refused to tell him.

"Okay, I know what the prophecy is, and I know why someone would want me dead, but you can't tell anyone okay?" she looked up at James who was suddenly very solemn.

"I swear that I won't tell a soul," he agreed. She smiled and told him of the prophecy. James looked confused.

"So wait, how do you know that this is the prophecy that Greyback was referring to? And how do you know that you're the one it's talking about?" Brynne sighed.

"Do you remember the day I was attacked? How I almost died?" she asked. She could tell that this was not something James particularly enjoyed remembering, but he nodded all the same.

"Well, when I was unconscious I met your grandparents and Dumbledore. They told me," she admitted. James looked shocked.

"So you knew about the prophecy before Malfoy told us?" he asked. Brynne just nodded. "Well why didn't you tell us then?" he demanded. "Did it ever occur to you that as your friends we might want to know?" Brynne looked up at him defiantly.

"This isn't your battle to fight, and I didn't want you all to feel like you needed to get involved. I can do this on my own thanks." James shook his head.

"No, you can't Brynne," he told her quietly, "Even the prophecy says that you can't. It tells you that '_the green-eyed changer with wisdom old joins with a hero's son.' _Obviously the prophecy is telling you that you need help to do this."

"Well the prophecy's wrong!" yelled Brynne. Tears were welling up and she tried desperately to push them back. She looked up at James in quiet desperation and whispered, "I won't let my friends die for a stupid prophecy made by a stranger who is long dead by now. I can do this without help. And that's exactly what I plan on doing." James grabbed hold of her shoulders in frustration.

"I'm not about to let you die because you're too stubborn to realize that you need help. This prophecy is _not_ going to destroy you Brynne. I won't let it." Brynne shook her head stubbornly.

"You don't get to make that choice James," she whispered sadly, "And I am doing this on my own. There is nothing you can say or do that will make me change my mind." James moved to interrupt but Brynne stopped him.

"You should probably go find Rose and apologize to her now. I have homework to do. I'll see you later." And with that she turned around and walked off to the Library. James just stood there quietly for a long while. Finally he decided that he was not likely to convince her to change her mind anytime tonight, so he might as well go find Rose and apologize. With a heavy heart he went in search of his cousin, all the while fighting to keep thoughts of Brynne and the prophecy away.

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**_So how'd you like it? Let me know...another chapter will be coming soon with hopefully a new character to stir up some trouble...hopefully...Until next time...Siyonara. (I'm trying to teach myself Japanese but it is not working very well and i am not sure if I spelled that correctly.) _**


	9. Chapter 7

**Okay so I am truly sorry about how long it took for me to get this next chapter up. Don't kill me! High school has just been insane for an unbelievable amount of time, however I am trying as hard as I can to work on this story in my free time. Forgive me.**

**Anyway I hope you enjoy. P.S. I don't own Harry Potter blah blah blah. You get the picture. :)**

"Does anybody else notice that we seem to always have at least two people in our group who aren't talking to each other?" Albus asked curiously over breakfast. James had apologized to Rose a week ago, and since then everyone had noticed the distance between Brynne and James. But whenever the others tried to ask one of them what was wrong they were always met with vague answers at best.

"I've noticed that James and Brynne can never go more than a week without getting into some sort of fight, if that's what you mean," Rose remarked drily.

"It's so strange," Roxi agreed, "Usually we know the reason for their fights, but this time, neither of them will tell us what's up."

"Well I just hope they figure it out soon," Fred said as he shoveled food into his face, "Halloween's coming up soon, and we can't have the annual Halloween party if those two aren't speaking."

"Why not?" asked Albus, confused. The others all rolled their eyes.

"Because dork, Brynne and James are the only ones who can convince Aunt Hermione that a party is a good idea," Roxi explained.

"Yeah and neither of them will do it if they're in a bad mood," Rose added. Albus nodded in understanding. Suddenly, Brynne showed up, smiling cheerfully at them.

"Hey guys," she greeted them as she sat next to Rose. The others all mumbled their greetings.

"So…Brynne," Fred began, "Have you and James worked out your latest spat? OW!" he yelled as both Rose and his sister smacked him upside the head.

"Idiot," they both said. Brynne glared at them.

"Just drop it guys," she told them, "There's nothing wrong between me and James."

"Hun, you guys have barely spoken in over a week. That in itself is unusual. But every time you guys do speak it's like you're arguing about something without actually arguing at all," Rose pointed out gently. Brynne just shook her head in denial.

"We're fine," she lied, smiling blandly, "We're just experiencing a minor disagreement, that's all." At that moment, James himself appeared. He smiled at the others and glared angrily at Brynne.

"Morning," he greeted them all. Brynne looked down at her plate studiously, refusing to meet James's eyes. They sat in awkward silence until Brynne spoke up.

"Al, can you pass me the salt please?" she mumbled quietly. Albus reached for the salt, but James beat him to it.

"Here Brynne," he said, his voice heavy with a double meaning, "Let me _help_ you." Brynne's eyes snapped up from her plate and narrowed in annoyance.

"No thanks," she spat, "I'm good. I didn't need it anyway."

"Oh I think you do," James insisted, pushing the salt at her.

"No. I really don't" Brynne snapped.

"Take the salt Brynne," James told her, his teeth grinding in anger.

"Quit being stubborn James," Brynne replied. Albus was looking back and forth between the two in confusion. James opened his mouth to respond but Rose beat him to it.

"OKAY ENOUGH!" she yelled, "Would one of you please tell me what the hell this is about? _Clearly _you are not talking about salt here." Brynne looked away in anger, but James continued to stare her down.

"Why don't you explain to them what this is all about, _Brynne_," he said icily. Brynne glared at him.

"Bugger off, Potter," she answered in a hostile tone.

"Tell them," James insisted slowly, "Or I will."

"Tell us what?" Albus asked, confused. Brynne glared at James furiously.

"You promised me you would keep it to yourself!" Brynne accused him angrily.

"That was before I realized you'd actually be stupid enough to do this on your own!" James told her, "I'm not a big fan of watching you get yourself killed Brynne."

"And I'm not a big fan of putting my friends in danger when I can handle my own problems James," said Brynne.

"Okay what the hell is going on?" demanded Roxi in annoyance, "Because neither of you is telling us anything. What the hell do you mean 'danger'?" Brynne stayed stubbornly silent.

"_Just tell them!" _came the increasingly familiar voice of Lily Evans Potter.

"_Not a chance in hell," _Brynne replied silently, "_Now, get out of my head!"_

"_Fat chance," _snorted Lily, _"Now TELL THEM!"_

"Goddamn it Brynne! Would you just tell them already?" James yelled in frustration.

"Would you just drop it James?" screamed Brynne.

"ONE OF YOU TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OR SO HELP ME…" shouted Rose in exasperation.

"Brynne knows what the prophecy is," James stated coolly; Brynne's eyes widened in shock.

"WHAT?" yelled all of the others. Everyone in the Great Hall looked up from their plates at the six Gryffindors.

"And you didn't tell us?" whispered Rose furiously.

"It doesn't concern you," Brynne insisted, still glaring at James.

"Like hell it doesn't!" hissed Roxi in anger.

"Brynne, if you know something about why those bastards attacked you then you need to tell us," Albus reasoned calmly. Brynne just shook her head obstinately. There was no way she was telling her friends, even if James had betrayed her trust. She knew that they would want to help, and she did _not _want them involved with this.

"Fine, if you won't tell us, then I bet James will," Albus said as they all turned to James.

"Tell them and I hex you till you die," Brynne threatened. James rolled his eyes.

"No, you won't Brynne," he told her confidently, "But I'm not going to tell them, you are."

"Were you not here for the last ten minutes of conversation? Because I'm pretty sure that I made it perfectly clear that I won't be telling them _anything,_" hissed Brynne furiously. James just smiled.

"You will, because otherwise I tell McGonagall, and then we'll see how she takes it." Brynne gasped in shock.

"You _wouldn't_," she whispered angrily, but a spark of fear showed in her eyes. James _would_ do something like that. When James made up his mind on something there was nothing that would stop him.

"Believe me, I would," he assured her smugly. The others looked between their two friends with baited breath. All of them knew that James was perfectly serious. He had already proven that he didn't joke around when it came to Brynne's safety, and whatever this prophecy said, it obviously meant danger. Brynne weighed her options in her mind, but she knew that she had lost this battle. With a sigh of defeat she nodded.

"Fine," she said grudgingly, "you win. I'll tell them." James smiled victoriously while the others all patted him on the back in congratulations.

"But I'm not telling them here," Brynne insisted, "We need to go somewhere where I know we won't be overheard." The others all nodded eagerly.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Rose, curious. Brynne smiled mischievously.

"I think it's time someone checked to see if the Room of Requirement still works," she told them all. The others looked at her as if she were mad.

"But it was destroyed in the war, remember?" Roxi mentioned, "Crabbe cast fiendfyre on it." Brynne shook her head.

"He only cast it on the room with the hidden objects in it," she explained, "I've been doing research on magical rooms, and I think that, as long as we don't try to go into that room specifically, the room of requirement might still work. It's worth a try anyways." The others stared at her in shock.

"Maybe you will be a marauder after all," James muttered under his breath, "That's bloody brilliant."

"So we're actually going to try?" Brynne asked hopefully; she'd been anxious to try out the room of requirement for ages, but she hadn't wanted to mess with it without others there, just in case.

"Well it's not as if we've got anything to lose now, is it? And after all, it could come in handy later on," James announced. The others all nodded in agreement. Brynne stood up and motioned for the others to follow her. She still wasn't happy that she had to tell them about the prophecy, but it wasn't like she could do anything about that. Her hands were tied.

They reached the place where the room of requirement was supposed to be and stopped. Brynne took a deep breath and then began to pace in front of the blank expanse of stone.

"_I need a place to talk to my friends in private," _she thought, _"I need a place to talk to my friends in private….I need a place to talk to my friends in private.."_ Brynne kept her eyes tightly closed, afraid to check, but then she heard the squeals of delight from behind her and she knew it had worked. Brynne opened her eyes, and there stood a small wooden door. Brynne's hair turned a bright yellow and she laughed.

"It worked!" she crowed happily, and ran to James, hugging him in excitement. He laughed with her and swung her around before setting her down gently and walking towards the door. He opened it and motioned for her to step forward.

"After you," he said in his best impression of a stuffy old man. Brynne giggled and skipped forward. The others followed after, and James closed the door after him, turning the lock. Immediately the door on their side of the wall disappeared, leaving only the lock behind on a blank expanse of wall. Brynne beamed. They all looked around at the room in amazement. None of them had ever dreamed that they would be able to use the famed room of requirement, but there they were.

The room was decorated in all reds and gold. It was clear that the room had taken into account the house spirit of its inhabitants. The room actually looked remarkably like the Gryffindor common room, except there were no staircases leading off to the dormitories. Large stuffed armchairs were arranged around a cozy looking fire, and a long red and gold striped couch lay directly in front of the fire on a large Persian rug. Fat cushions were sprinkled around the room and warm comfy blankets were spread out. It was perfect. The only flaw that any of the kids could find was the faint hint of smoke that permeated the air. Brynne guessed that this was a permanent side effect from the damage inflicted from the fiendfyre.

The others all took seats. Roxi and Fred fought furiously over the arm chair closest to the fire. Fred won, and a disgruntled Roxi took her seat on the floor. Rose sat next to her in a pile of cushions, and Albus had taken up the other arm chair. James was stretched out on the couch, and they were all looking up at Brynne expectantly. Brynne was still standing uneasily in front of her friends. Now that it was finally time to tell them, she felt a bit of panic stirring in her stomach. How would they react?

"_You're doing the right thing,"_ Lilly's voice assured her.

"_Am I? I'm putting them all in danger." _Brynne reminded Lilly anxiously.

_"It's their choice, and you know they'd want the chance to stand by you."_ Lilly said with a note of finality. Brynne felt her presence fading, the way it did from time to time.

"Are you going to tell us what this damned prophecy is about now or is James going to have to bully you some more?" demanded Fred impatiently. James shot him a glare from the couch.

"I didn't bully her," he stated calmly, "And be nice, this isn't easy for Brynne." Brynne would've been grateful for his defense, but she was still annoyed that he was making her do this.

"Alright, well…the day I was attacked…something happened. Something strange," Brynne began nervously. The others all leaned in with interest as Brynne told her about the place between life and death. She left out the fact that it had been a scene from the wedding she'd attended with James, but otherwise she told them everything. When she was finished the others were all looking at her with shock. Even James seemed a little off balance.

"So let me get this straight," Albus said finally, "My grandparents are in your head…talking to you?" Brynne shrugged.

"It's more like your grandmother actually. James Sr. hasn't really had much to say to me so far," she explained.

"What's she like?" asked Roxi in fascination. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"A pain," she told them honestly.

_"I resent that,"_ Lilly piped up.

_"Doesn't make it any less true,"_ Brynne sang in her head.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Fred, rubbing his hands in anticipation. Brynne held her hand up to stop him.

"_We_ aren't going to do anything," she told him firmly, "This is my burden to bear, not yours." James snorted.

"You're mad if you think we're going to let you do this by yourself," Roxi stated. The others all nodded in agreement. All except Rose, who had remained eerily silent throughout the whole conversation. Brynne looked at her, worried. She knew that Rose hated being lied to. Brynne hadn't exactly lied, but she had kept a secret, and to Rose, that was just as bad.

"I think Brynne's right," Rose said stonily. The others all looked at Rose in shock.

"Are you mental?" demanded James.

"Well clearly she has a handle on things if she didn't feel it necessary to tell her best friends about this," Rose insisted.

"You don't mean that," Roxi whispered sadly. Rose nodded her head firmly.

"I do," she assured them all. "I want nothing to do with this; don't expect me to risk my life for someone who doesn't even trust me enough to tell me the truth," Rose said harshly. Brynne flinched back as if she'd been smacked. A part of her was glad that Rose would be safe, but it still hurt to hear her best friend say that.

"Rose!" James protested sharply. The anger on his face was clear. Brynne held up her hand to stop his tirade.

"It's fine," she whispered, "I'm glad. Rose is doing what's best for her; I won't ask her to risk her life to help me," Brynne told him. James looked furious.

"You shouldn't have to ask," he hissed, "That's what friends do and Rose _knows_ that." Brynne just shook her head. She was fighting back tears; today had been a long one, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could last before the dam broke. She wouldn't cry in front of Rose though.

"I'm leaving," Rose said finally, "Have fun playing heroes," she spat at them before turning and exiting the room. They could hear her footsteps fading into the distance. Brynne stood rigid. She would not break down. She wouldn't.

"I'm going to go try to talk some sense into her," Roxi said finally.

"Please don't" Brynne begged, Roxi turned, her face stony.

"What she just did was not right," Roxi told her acidly, "And whether you want our help or not you're getting it. You might as well be a Weasley because all of us view you as part of this family, and Rose knows that. Weasley's stick with their friends," and with those words Roxi was gone as well. Fred followed her, hoping to stop his sister from hexing their cousin. Albus looked from James, who was shaking with fury, to Brynne, who was shaking from something very different.

"I'm going to go do some research on this prophecy," Albus announced before leaving. As soon as he was gone Brynne had collapsed into sobs. James was at her side in a moment. Brynne leaned into him as she cried, hiding her face so that he wouldn't see her.

"I t-told you it w-was a bad idea to t-tell them!" she hiccoughed as he held her. "She h-hates me!" James shook his head in denial.

"She doesn't hate you," he assured her, "She's hurt that you didn't want her help. She thinks that you don't trust her enough." Brynne looked up at him in amazement.

"You don't think that do you?" she asked him, worried. He shook his head as he squeezed her closer.

"Of course not Brynne," he murmured into her hair.

"I just wanted to protect them," Brynne explained into his robes. James nodded.

"I know," he told her, "But maybe they don't want to be protected. Maybe they want to protect you." Brynne shook her head stubbornly.

"I'm not worth it," she whispered vulnerably. James pushed her away from him so that he could look in her eyes; his own eyes were crackling with a deep fury.

"Don't ever say that," he told her furiously, "Don't ever say you're not worth protecting Brynne, because you are! Do you understand me? You are worth protecting!" He looked at her, making sure she understood. Brynne knew it was no good arguing with him, because he was too stubborn to hear it, and besides, she was too grateful to argue at that point, but she couldn't completely fight back the panic in her chest. James was going to get killed because of her. They all were, and Brynne could not let that happen. James seemed to realize the panic in her eyes because he hugged her close once more and rocked her soothingly.

"None of us is going anywhere," he assured her, "and quite honestly I'm a bit insulted that you think we're that easy to get rid of." Brynne just nodded silently. She was done fighting with her friends. She couldn't stop them from helping her; she might as well accept that fact now. But it would be a cold day in hell before she let any of them die because of her. Right then Rose made it her priority to save her friends, even if it meant she died, even if it meant darkness won; her friends would not die for the prophecy. James held her until she was calm enough to let him go. They separated awkwardly and Brynne kissed his cheek for the second time that week. James seemed shocked at the contact, but this time Brynne felt no embarrassment.

"Thank you," she told him before standing up to leave. James grinned at her as he pushed himself up as well. Brynne turned to go but a hand on her wrist stopped her. Brynne looked back at James; he suddenly looked very serious.

"They really do think of you as family," he told her, "and Weasley's protect their family." Brynne nodded, her eyes wide.

"Do you think of me as family?" Brynne asked; she didn't know why it was so important that she know the answer to this question, but it was. James smiled wryly.

"No," he shook his head. Brynne tilted hers in confusion.

"Then what _do _you think of me as?" she questioned. James pulled her closer, pushing a strand of her blonde hair out of her face tenderly.

"I think you are the most important person in my life," he admitted. Brynne blushed.

"I think the same of you," she told him shyly. He stepped closer. Brynne could count the freckles on his nose and see the flecks of gold in his hazel eyes. His breath hit her face and it momentarily stunned her to be this close to him. She couldn't remember ever being this close to a boy, least of all James.

"Brynne," he whispered, his mouth centimeters away from her own.

"Yes James?" she breathed. He looked directly into her eyes, and Brynne knew she was lost.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked. Brynne swallowed nervously. She wanted to kiss James more than she had ever wanted to kiss anybody.

"Yes," she answered slowly, and James closed the distance between them, cutting off her answer.

They were kissing. They were kissing and it was glorious. Brynne held tight to James, afraid that if she loosened her grip he might disappear altogether. They broke off, each breathing heavily. James was beaming down at her and Brynne couldn't hide her own smile.

"That should've happened a long time ago," he told her. Brynne nodded her head in agreement and leaned up to kiss him once again.

They fell apart again and both were grinning like idiots.

"Brynne," James began, his voice trembling with nerves, "does this mean I can call you mine now?" Brynne thought about it. Did she want to be James Potter's girl? How would their friends react? How would Rose react? She decided she didn't really care. She had wanted to be James's girl for a while now, but she had never been able to admit it to herself. Brynne nodded.

"Yes James," she told him, "I think it does." If it was possible, the grin on James Potter's face grew wider.

**Did you like it? Did you? Well let me know! Review please. And I promise to try harder to get the next chapter up at a decent time. Seriously.**

**:)**


	10. Chapter 8

**Hey! I'm back! I'm terribly sorry for the ridiculously long wait for this story. I had some personal stuff to deal with and a very long bout of writer's block. However I am back and ready to continue with this story. Actually, I have to thank the wonderful people who reviewed for the continuation of this story. It was rereading your kind words that convinced me to return. I felt I owed it to you. Anyway, this chapter is a bit longer than the last few have been. Hopefully it makes up for the long wait. Forgive me please? **

**Disclaimer: Regretfully I still have not managed to convince JK Rowling to hand over the rights to Harry Potter, so I must tell you that I do not own Hogwarts or any of the characters belonging to JK Rowling. I have only my few original characters.**

**P.S. Morgan, if you're still reading this after all of this time, I promised you I'd write you in, and I always keep my word. See if you can guess which character is yours. ;) I bet you can.**

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Chapter 8

Articles, Newcomers, and Nostalgia

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Brynne spent most of that time in a state of bliss. After leaving the Room of Requirement, she and James had returned to the common room to announce to the others the latest development in their relationship. Albus had smiled knowingly. Roxi and Fred had done a celebratory dance. Rose hadn't been there.

That was the only dark side of the past two weeks. Brynne couldn't ignore the way Rose refused to look at her, or the way she left the room whenever Brynne entered. The others kept insisting that Rose would come around eventually, but Brynne had her doubts. In a way, she was relieved. It was one less friend she had to worry about dying because of her. Even though it hurt, Brynne would gladly suffer through it in silence if it meant Rose would be safe. Whenever the others talked to her about reconciliation, Brynne just shrugged them off. She smiled and said she was fine. Rose had made the choice best for her. James, of course, didn't like this plan of action. Once again he was refusing to talk to his cousin, but this time it wasn't because he thought Rose had betrayed him. Now Rose had betrayed Brynne, and in James' mind, that was ten times worse.

Brynne entered the Great Hall Saturday morning to find James and Albus already eating breakfast. Brynne quickly gave James a peck on the cheek and sat down in the empty seat on his right. James smiled at her in welcome and pulled her in for a real kiss.

"Good morning," he greeted her once he'd pulled away. Brynne blushed as she bit her lip. She had discovered that she was quickly growing addicted to James' kisses.

"Morning," she murmured as she quickly turned toward the food. Albus was looking at her and his brother with a look of disgust.

"Not that I don't love the fact that you two are together now, but the morning snog sessions are a bit of an appetite killer," he told them. Brynne blushed, but James looked unashamed.

"You might as well get used to it," he told his brother firmly, "because I have no intention of stopping to spare your delicate eyes." Albus scowled.

"My eyes aren't delicate," he snapped, "I just don't want to see you two sucking face while I'm eating. Go find a broom cupboard for that shit." James looked as if her were considering the idea. Brynne slapped him playfully.

"After breakfast," she told him firmly. She had missed dinner the night before, and she had every intention of making up for that this morning with a large helping of scrambled eggs and toast. Not even the promise of James' kisses was enough to get her away from the table right then, although the idea was tempting. James pouted, but said nothing, instead returning to his food.

A large barn owl swooped down from the air and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet in Albus' lap. It landed on the table and held out its leg, waiting for payment. Al dug through his pockets before pulling out a few coins and dropping them in the waiting pouch. The owl hooted with dignity and took off once more. The others watched as it flew away before turning back to Albus.

"Anything interesting in the Daily Prophet today?" James asked. Albus shrugged as he unrolled the paper and opened it to the first page.

"I'll let you know," he murmured absentmindedly, his thoughts already absorbed by the words on the page.

Roxi and Fred both stumbled into the Great Hall, their eyes still half closed from sleep. Anytime before noon on a Saturday was too early in their opinion, but James had scheduled a Quidditch practice in for eleven that morning, and they couldn't practice on an empty stomach.

Mumbling incoherent greetings, the twins plopped down at the table and began to fill their plates with food. Brynne smiled indulgently at her friends. She had always been a morning person herself, but she knew that to the twins, morning was somewhere between noon and one in the afternoon. Anything before then was sleep time.

"Why are we having practice so early again?" Roxi groaned. James scowled.

"It's not early," he assured her, "you too are just lazy." The twins glared at him murderously.

"Brynne, control your boyfriend," Fred growled. Brynne laughed.

"I'm the one who convinced him to have it at eleven in the first place," she told the twins, "He _was_ going to have it at seven this morning." The twins blanched at this idea.

"Mate, I'm all for winning the Quidditch Cup, but one more morning practice might kill me," Fred told James seriously. "You're bloody insane to want to be up that early." James just shrugged.

"There's less of a chance of any spies that early in the morning," he stated coolly. Roxi snorted.

"He just means there are less giggling bimbos sneaking in to flirt with him while he's all hot and sweaty," she corrected. James stuck out his tongue.

"It's not my fault I'm attractive," he sniffed. Brynne raised one eyebrow at this. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Brynne just rolled her eyes.

"I remember when a statement like that would've earned you a smack on the head," mused Roxi nostalgically.

"Makes me almost miss the days when you two weren't dating," Fred agreed wistfully. Brynne laughed.

Their banter stopped when Albus lowered the paper, his face grim. Seeing his expression, Brynne frowned.

"Bad news Al?" she asked curiously. Albus merely pushed the paper in her direction, pointing to an article on the first page.

"Read this and tell me what you think," he demanded seriously. Brynne grabbed the Daily Prophet and began to read. As her eyes progressed across the page her face blanched. Her knuckles turned white as her grip tightened.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked James nervously. He didn't like her reaction at all. The others all watched Brynne with baited breath. Albus' own expression was fierce. When Brynne finally looked up, her eyes were wide with fear.

"Werewolves," she told them quietly. "That's what the prophecy meant by 'wolves.' Not the animal, but werewolves. I hadn't made the connection before, but Malfoy said that the man who attacked me, Fenrir Greyback, was one of the most feared werewolves to ever live." James frowned in confusion.

"What does that have to do with the Prophet?" he asked. Brynne lowered the paper so that they all could read the headline.

"That's what it has to do with it," she explained gravely. They all looked down at the headline in fear.

_Werewolf Attacks on the Rise_

_By L. Longbottom_

_Typically werewolf attacks are rare and spread out, especially since the discovery of the Wolfsbane potion in 1986 which gives the people afflicted with this curse the ability to retain their human mind during their monthly transformations. However, recently statistics have shown a steep increase in the amount of werewolf attacks. In this past month alone there have been 58 reported attacks throughout Great Britain. This is an unheard of number. Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had this to say, "No one knows why the number of attacks have increased so recently. The Department of the Control of Magical Creatures has launched an investigation in the hopes of finding a pattern, but right now we have no answers." Michael Gawshawk, head of the Department of the Control of Magical Creatures was unavailable for questioning, but an insider who wishes to remain anonymous did say this, "So far none of the attacks have been fatal, but it's only a matter of time before someone is killed." With 58 attacks this past month, 42 the previous month, and 38 in July, it's not hard to agree with this person that it is only a matter of time. The attacks are spread out throughout Great Britain and include a range of victims from ages 4 to 17, but other than that, authorities have no further information. They cannot even say the names of the culprits who attacked. Hopefully the Ministry will have more information soon, but until then, I advise the public to keep track of the full moons, and take full precautions. I myself have found that a potion made from lacewing flies and ground gurdyroot helps to repulse Werewolves. They don't like the smell. For the recipe please see pg. 8._

There was silence at the table as they all absorbed the information they had just read.

"What does it _mean_?" Roxi asked. "I don't understand what the connection is." Brynne looked up, her eyes grim.

"I don't either Rox, but I find it hard to believe that it's a coincidence that I get attacked by the most infamous werewolf in Great Britain at the exact time that werewolf attacks begin to rise. There has to be a connection." The others all nodded in agreement.

"Where the bloody hell did she get that gurdyroot advice?" asked Fred after a moment, his nose wrinkled, "If she's basing it off of Teddy's reaction then it's rubbish. I don't blame Teddy one bit for avoiding that shit. It's disgusting." The others chuckled darkly at the memory of Mrs. Longbottom's infamous gurdyroot tea. They had all been subjected to it at some point in their lives, and none of them had particularly fond memories of the experience.

_"Something's not right here,"_ Brynne started at the sound of Lily's voice. She hadn't heard it since the day she'd decided to be honest to her friends about the prophecy. She had begun to hope that Lily was gone for good.

"_Keep dreaming_," Lily told her.

_"Stay out of my head!" _Brynne growled silently. The others were all looking at her curiously.

"Something wrong Brynne?" asked Albus. Brynne grimaced.

"It's Lily," she admitted, "She says something's not right." The others all sat up in interest.

"Dead grandmother Lily?" Roxi asked excitedly. She had already admitted her admiration for Brynne's newfound 'talent' as she called it. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"No, your cousin suddenly found away to talk to me telepathically," she deadpanned. Roxi rolled her eyes.

"What does she mean by 'something's not right?'" asked Albus.

"I think it's pretty clear that something isn't right, judging by the looks of this article," Fred pointed out dryly. Brynne shook her head. She agreed with Lily.

"No, something else. Something _about_ the attacks isn't right," Brynne told them.

"What?" asked James. Brynne bit her lip, thinking hard as she looked over the article one more time.

"I don't know," she admitted finally, "I can't put my finger on it, but something's definitely wrong."

"What about my grandmother?" James asked, "Can she tell you what's wrong?" Brynne frowned and listened for Lily's voice. She could sense a presence in her mind, and she could feel a hint of frustration coming from it.

"_I don't know either," _said Lily, _"But there is definitely something wrong here." _ Brynne shook her head.

"She doesn't know what it is yet either," she told them. They sat quietly for a moment, thinking on the article. They were interrupted by the approach of Colin Creevey.

"Hey Potter!" he called cheerfully, "Isn't practice in fifteen minutes? Shouldn't you lot be headed down to the pitch?" James looked down at his watch and swore colorfully. It read 10:48.

"Less, actually," he answered Colin as he jumped up from the table. He looked at the group apologetically. "I have to run," he told them, "I left the playbook in the dorm, and I still need to grab my broom. You lot head down to the pitch without me." Quickly he kissed Brynne on the cheek, and then he was gone. The others frowned.

"I suppose we'd better start heading down to the pitch as well," said Brynne. The twins nodded and stood to leave. Albus was still examining the article as if trying to solve a particularly hard equation in Arithmancy.

"You lot go on," he waved them away absentmindedly, "I think I'll head over to the library and start doing some research on werewolves. Now that we know what we're dealing with it'd be best to know as much as we can about them." The others all nodded and then disappeared, off to practice. Albus left the table soon after, taking the Prophet with him.

Quidditch practice was grueling that day. Due to her fight with Brynne, more than half of Rose's teammates weren't speaking to her except to yell at her for doing something wrong. Rose tried to ignore the hurt at having lost her family as well as her teammates, but it wasn't easy. The only people talking to her still were Lily and Hugo, and Rose didn't exactly _like_ having to spend all of her time with her kid brother and younger cousin. She had taken to hanging out at the Slytherin table with Scorpius. Over the past two weeks she had discovered him to be a good person: caring, decent, intelligent, and loyal. If James ever decided to speak to her again, Rose made a note to get him to see past Scorpius' family name. She had a feeling the two boys would get along well.

After two hours of unsuccessful practice, James finally released them for lunch. His scowl as they made their way back to the castle showed his displeasure at their progress that day. The first match of the season was approaching in a month, and they were nowhere near ready to play. If they didn't find some way to work together as a team, they wouldn't ever be ready.

Lunch was uneventful compared to breakfast. They were all too worn out from practice to do much talking, and Albus had still not emerged from the library. Brynne was just thinking that a nap sounded nice when two letters dropped into her lap. Startled, she nearly spilled her pumpkin juice. Looking up, she saw that the others had all received letters of their own. Brynne hesitantly opened the first letter. Professor Weasley's handwriting was quickly becoming recognizable after a month of similar notes.

_Your final detentions will take place at precisely 6:00 this evening. Don't be late._

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione Weasley_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Brynne felt a thrill of relief at the thought of her last detention. The past month hadn't been as bad as she'd anticipated, but she was ready for her punishment to be done. She had better things to worry about now.

"What do you reckon she'll have us do this time?" Fred asked.

"Knowing Aunt Hermione, it'll probably be something extra cruel, seeing as it's our last one," James muttered darkly. Brynne rolled her eyes.

"They're not that bad," Brynne defended. The others merely looked at her with blank expressions. Brynne turned her attention to the second letter. It was from her mum. She moved to open it, but was interrupted by a newcomer.

Elise Davies was Hogwarts' most notorious and well-informed gossip. She knew everything that happened before anybody else, and she was always willing to share. Brynne normally didn't have a problem with her, but Elise Davies was also the president of Hogwarts' own James Potter fan club. As the girl sat down a little _too_ close to James for comfort, Brynne shot her a suspicious glare.

"Davies," she greeted coolly. James shot her a curious glance. Brynne was typically friendly to just about everyone, with the exception of Vera, and on occasion him. Elise flipped her long, blonde hair and flashed James her most flirtatious smile.

"James," she cooed. James shifted uncomfortably under her hungry gaze. The twins both groaned quietly while Brynne glared pointedly at Elise.

"Er…Elise?" James greeted hesitantly. Elise giggled as if he'd said something funny.

"So, have you heard the news?" she asked.

"What news?" snapped Roxi, who was not overly fond of girls like Elise Davies. Elise shot her a look.

"There's a new girl at Hogwarts," she announced confidently.

"A new girl?" Fred questioned, confused, "But we're a month into school."

"She just transferred here," Elise explained, "She used to be homeschooled. Her name's Ariel Jennings. Get this. She's a fifth year." Brynne, who was the only fifth year at the table, shifted in interest.

"What house is she in?" asked Brynne, curious despite herself.

"Well, I _heard_ she was in Slytherin," Elise answered, "But I haven't seen her yet so I don't know for sure. Apparently her family's loaded. Her grandmother is Celestina Warbeck!" Fred snorted.

"Isn't that the witch your grandmother loves so much?" Brynne asked James. James smiled slightly, his eyes alight with laughter.

"Yeah," he answered, "She's bloody awful. Grandma Molly makes us listen to her during the holidays…" he shuddered at the memory, "It's not pretty."

"Understatement," grumbled Roxi. Fred snickered.

"Aww, does someone not like our grandmother's taste in music?" he teased his sister. Roxi wrinkled her nose.

"Who does?" she demanded.

"I think she's brilliant," Elise Davies chimed in, "She's got that classic sound, you know?" Brynne snorted.

"Oh yes, A Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love is a _real_ classic," she agreed sarcastically. James laughed and put his arm around her, dragging her in for a hug. Brynne beamed at the contact, noticing the look on Elise's face. Elise humphed in offense, but said no more before getting up to rejoin her friends over at the Ravenclaw table.

"How that girl managed to get into Ravenclaw, I'll never know," Roxi mused, "She's got no brains to speak of." Brynne snorted in agreement.

"That's hardly fair," Fred argued half-heartedly, "she must have _something _in that head of hers. How else could she know so many secrets?"

"I _still_ say that she makes up half of those rumors," Brynne said. James chuckled.

"So what do you reckon this new girl is like?" Roxi asked. James frowned.

"She can't be any good if she's in _Slytherin_," he stated confidently.

"They're not _all _bad," said Fred, thinking absentmindedly of Vera. James said nothing.

"Well, frankly, I'm in no mood to meet anyone who has Elise Davies this excited," Brynne announced, "I'm off to go finish some homework before detention. Anyone want to join me?" The twins shot her disgusted looks.

"_Homework?_ On a _Saturday?_ Blasphemy!" cried Fred. Brynne rolled her eyes and turned to James expectantly. James ran a hand nervously through his hair. He tended to agree with the twins on this particular point, but he knew if he let Brynne go off to do homework he wouldn't see her until detention. And that just wouldn't do.

"I guess so," he agreed reluctantly. The twins shared looks of betrayal.

"You've corrupted him, you have," Roxi accused Brynne grumpily.

"He'll never be the same," Fred cried mournfully. Brynne laughed before motioning for James to follow her out of the Great Hall, leaving the twins on their own to spend their Saturdays the way they always did, getting into mischief.

Albus had forgone lunch in the hope of finding something on werewolves that would help him see what they were missing. He'd looked over the article in the Prophet dozens of times, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was bothering Brynne. The library's collection on werewolves was extensive, but unfortunately that meant that he was stuck sorting through the plethora of information for something useful. So far he had come up empty-handed. Albus was so absorbed in his research that he didn't notice the girl until she was standing right in front of his table, clearing her throat.

"Excuse me," a voice sounded from above him. Albus looked up to meet a pair of ice-blue eyes that seemed to stare straight through him. It took a moment for him to process the fact that the owner of those eyes was talking to him.

"Erm…yes? Can I help you?" The girl with the blue eyes laughed happily at his response.

"Oh good," she exclaimed, "I was beginning to worry you were deaf or something." She fixed him with a brilliant smile that left Albus momentarily stunned.

"Erm…sorry," he stumbled awkwardly, "But was there something you needed?" The girl smiled knowingly, as if she understood the effect she had on him. She tucked a strand of strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear nervously.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could help me? You see, I'm new here and I need to find a book on defensive spells, but I'm not entirely sure where to look." The girl looked down at him hopefully. Albus felt as if he were waking from a dream, dazed and confused.

"Um…yeah," he answered quietly, "Defensive magic is over there." He pointed in the right direction and waited for the mysterious girl to leave. Her eyes flashed with something that looked a bit like disappointment.

"Right, well…I guess I'd better go find that book then," she told him before turning in the direction he had pointed. Before he could return to his research, she turned back and fixed him with another one of her unsettling gazes.

"I'm Ariel by the way, Ariel Jennings," she introduced herself. Albus blushed, although he didn't exactly know _why_ he was blushing.

"Albus Potter," he answered back shyly. Ariel beamed.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Potter," she declared brightly before turning toward the bookshelves and away from him.

"Yeah…" murmured Albus to himself, "You, too…"

Brynne found herself in an odd mood before detention. She had opened the letter from her mum only a few hours ago and the words were still running through her mind. It was good news. Her mother had been writing to tell Brynne that her younger brother, Kevin, had shown his first sign of accidental magic that week. He had accidently fallen off of a shelf he'd been trying to climb. But instead of hitting his head on the hard tile below, he had miraculously done a flip in mid air and landed halfway across the room on his feet. Kevin was seven now. In four years he would be attending Hogwarts himself.

The news should have made Brynne ecstatic, and it did. Truly. But for some reason, all she could think of was of Vera, who had been there the day that Kevin was born, and who had been almost like a second older sister for him for most of his life. She would've rejoiced to hear the news of Kevin's magic. It was something that she and Vera should have shared together, as they had shared almost every other memory with Kevin. His first steps, his first words, everything. Vera had been there when Brynne had shown her first signs of magic, and vice verse. It seemed wrong that this time Brynne could not share a memory with her old best friend.

Brynne made her way to Professor Weasley's office quietly, and she watched in silence as Professor Weasley paired them off for their last detentions. Fred and James. Scorpius and Rose. Roxi and Albus. Finally, all that was left was her and Vera.

"You two will be sorting potion ingredients tonight," Professor Weasley told them. Brynne nodded and followed Vera down to the dungeons in silence. She watched her old friend silently as they headed down. Vera looked tired. Dark circles ran beneath her eyes, and she looked as if she had lost some weight. Her brown hair was pulled back in a braid, but it looked as if she hadn't washed it that day. Brynne knew Vera well enough to know that something was wrong.

They began their detention in silence. Brynne felt the tension in the air, and she had a sudden need to say something, anything. Half an hour into their work, she finally broke the silence.

"Kevin did magic," she announced simply. There was no preamble. "I thought you might like to know that." Vera didn't look at her, but Brynne caught the sad smile on her face, and the tension in her shoulders as she froze.

"That's wonderful," Vera said finally, and there was a note of sincerity in her voice. Vera had always looked at Kevin as her younger brother, and she could not help but feel a hint of sisterly pride at the news.

"He misses you," Brynne told her. Vera said nothing, but a pained look crossed her face briefly before she could conceal it under a mask of indifference. She shrugged nonverbally. Brynne tried again.

"You should see him," she mused fondly, "He's grown so much sense we were twelve."

"Why are you telling me this?" Vera demanded harshly. Brynne looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you might want to know," she answered simply, "You're as much his sister as I am." Vera shook her head sadly.

"Not anymore," she murmured to herself. Brynne pretended not to hear this last thought, and returned to her work in silence. This time, it was Vera who spoke.

"Scorpius told me you knew. About…about what really happened that day in Hogsmeade?" Vera sounded unsure, a rare occurrence. Brynne looked at her coolly.

"That's right." Brynne answered calmly. Vera looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered almost inaudibly. Brynne shot her a confused look.

"What for?" Brynne asked, "You didn't attack me." Vera shook her head and quickly wiped a tear away before it could fall.

"I should've stopped it," she insisted, "I should've screamed for help; I should've done _something_." She choked on her tears and fell silent. Brynne shook her head hurriedly.

"There was nothing you could do," she assured Vera quietly. Vera sobbed.

"It was horrible!" she admitted to Brynne, "Standing there and watching them hurt you. Feeling so _helpless. _I've had nightmares for weeks now. Every time it's like the first time. Watching them torture you, hearing you scream. Seeing all of that _blood_." Without thinking Brynne moved to wrap her arms around Vera as she watched her old friend fall apart. Vera leaned into her, hiding her face from view.

"I don't blame you Vera," Brynne explained quietly, "I'm glad you didn't get involved. They would've killed you." Vera scoffed.

"Why should you care if I die?" she demanded harshly, "You haven't said one kind word to me in _years." _ Brynne backed away as if stung.

"That doesn't mean I want you dead!" she cried, "Vera you were my best friend! I could never want you dead!"

"But you _hate_ me!" Vera accused her. Brynne shook her head, suddenly feeling drained.

"I've never hated you," she admitted sadly, "I just couldn't handle the hostility between you and James. The two of you were the most important people in my lives. And you hated each other. I had to choose."

"And you chose _him_," Vera spat harshly. "I was your sister in every way except blood and you chose _him!_"

"I didn't have a choice!" Brynne shouted. "I never had a choice with James!" There was silence as the two of them breathed harshly. Brynne sighed and rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache coming on. She gave up on metamorphosing, allowing her guard to come down in front of Vera. Allowing her to see the real Brynne.

"I can't explain it," she whispered, "but it's like he's a part of me. Like he's some vital organ I never knew I had, and if I remove him, I'll die. I can't _not _choose him. Do you understand?" Vera stared at Brynne for a long time.

"I understand," she agreed finally, "but it doesn't mean I can forgive you for it." Brynne looked as if she'd been slapped. Finally she nodded.

"I guess that's fair," she said after a long silence. And with that the two girls returned to their work. They didn't speak again for the remainder of their detention. And when the work was done, both girls returned to their separate common rooms and cried for a friendship that had ended long ago.

* * *

**So...what'd you think? Good? Terrible? Let me know. I realize I probably don't deserve the reviews after the wait I put you through, but do it anyway. Please? **

**A couple of notes:**

**1. There have been a few questions concerning everyone's age. Let me clarify. Rose, Scorpius, Brynne, Albus, Vera, and Ariel are all fifth years. Lily and Hugo are both third years. James, Roxi, and Fred are sixth years. **

**2. I make no promises, but I'm going to TRY (note the TRY bit there) to update every week, probably on a Friday or during the weekend. However, if I don't update for a bit, please bear in mind that I am currently in the middle of my senior year at high school, and that I do my own laundry. I'm a busy person, and my life has sort of hit stress level 900 at this point. Seriously. I've got classes, college, financial aid shit, not to mention the fact that I have two parts in my school's senior play in addition to handling costumes. I have a grand total of zero free time. (This is not an exaggeration.) However, whenever I do find free time, I promise to work on getting out this story. I think I can manage a chapter a week. But if I don't, please don't murder me. **

**3. Some of you might be tempted to read my other story, The Black Chronicles: Book 1. If you haven't already started it then take my advice; don't. It's on temporary hiatus and shall remain so until I finish this particular story. I just don't have time to concentrate on both stories right now. I apologize for anyone who has already begun that story, but I promise I WILL finish it eventually, and as you might have noted from earlier, I always keep my word. **

**I love reviews. ;) Until next time. **


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